IND v ENG 2021: "Ajinkya Rahane looks like a batsman short of confidence," says Sanjay Manjrekar

Sanjay Manjrekar is not happy with 'Ajinkya Rahane - the batsman'.

Ajinkya Rahane walks off after getting out to Anderson | Getty

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar is not happy with the batting form of Indian Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane in the recent past.

Manjrekar feels that the Indian No. 5 batsman is short of confidence due to his inconsistent returns with the bat since the start of the calendar year 2020. Rahane has scored just 471 runs in 18 Test innings since then with 2 scores of 50+ and 8 scores of 10 or less.

Sanjay Manjrekar told ESPNCricInfo in a video interview, “Coming to Ajinkya Rahane’s wicket, every time I see him bat these days, I don’t get that comfort. Ajinkya Rahane doesn’t give you that security that the team needs or his fans would want from him. That’s something that has been wrong with his batting for a long time now.

Every time I see Ajinkya Rahane bat these days, I feel a batsman short of confidence, a batsman who seems extremely insecure,” he added.

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Ajinkya Rahane resorted to an aggressive approach against England in the first innings of the fourth Test match in Ahmedabad. He hit 4 boundaries in his knock of 27 runs off 45 balls before edging one to Ben Stokes in the slips off the bowling of James Anderson.

Manjrekar said, “Rahane stood out with his (aggressive) approach. Rahane has batted in this way in the last 3-4 years. There have been times when he plays all these shots. But even when he plays in this fashion not all the shots that we saw were convincing.”

So yes, he has scored freely but wasn’t giving too much confidence to the batsmen who were watching from the dressing room,” he asserted.

England captain Joe Root used Anderson smartly in the first session of the second day’s play. The pacer had bowled 5 maidens in the last few overs remaining on Day 1 and continued his spell on the second morning. He was then brought back to bowl just before Lunch.

Great move from England to start with Jimmy Anderson in the morning and then keep him fresh for another burst right at the end (of the session) before lunch,” Manjrekar concluded.

 
 

By Sameer Deodhar - 06 Mar, 2021

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