Former Indian cricketer-turned-commentator Deep Dasgupta said Ajinkya Rahane has to raise his game and start to perform consistently after Test vice-captain’s terrible batting in India's massive defeat in the first Test of the four-match Test series against England on Tuesday (January 9).
After leading India to a historic Test series 2-1 win in Australia last month, Rahane was expected to make the most of the home conditions against England, but he horribly failed, scoring 1 and 0 as India suffered 227 runs defeat in the first Test to give England 1-0 lead in the ongoing Test series on Tuesday.
The right-hander hasn’t scored a fifty in his last 7 Test innings since his match-winning 112 in the Boxing Day Test against Australia at the MCG in December 2020 and his latest twin failures have put him under the scanner.
Dasgupta said being an experienced batsman he has to put his hand up and start performing consistently for the team after India’s massive defeat against England in Chennai.
Dasgupta said on Sports Today on Tuesday: “Ajinkya Rahane has to raise his game, there are no two ways about it. He's got that hundred (Boxing Day Test vs Australia last year) even apart from that his average was in the 30s despite that knock.”
The former wicketkeeper-batsman also pointed that India has lost the first Test to England in the first innings where they should have scored more runs in reply to the tourists’ 578 in Chennai, but ended up scoring just 337 and then bowled out for just 192 while chasing 420 to suffer a heavy defeat on Tuesday.
He added, “You would want your top order and it was the first innings (where India lost the game). At the end of the day, it was the 1st innings where you should have scored more runs.”
Meanwhile, former Indian spinner Pragyan Ojha agreed with Dasgupta’s views, saying: “The 1st innings was very crucial, that's where I thought we lost our momentum. Had we batted better, things would have been very different. The 2nd innings it was all about trying to save the Test because of that huge lead.”
On the other hand, Dasgupta also agreed with Indian captain Virat Kohli’s observation that the hosts have lacked the intensity against England. However, he hoped the Indian cricket team will bounce back in the second Test starting February 13 at the same venue in Chennai.
He signed off by saying, “I was listening to Virat and he talked about intensity which is true. The first innings was different; the second innings was what you expect from the Indian side. The body language, the way they were moving around on the field. But India will bounce back there are no two ways about that, but it's not going to be easy.”
(With India Today Inputs)
