NZ v IND 2020: "Played like a tail-ender," Harbhajan Singh tears into Ajinkya Rahane's performance against short ball

Rahane even took a few blows on his helmet before getting dismissed by Wagner.

Ajinkya Rahane | Getty

The Indian batting order collapsed yet again in the second innings of the second and final Test match against New Zealand as they ended the second day with 6 wickets down and just 90 runs on the board.

India lost opener Mayank Agarwal early as he was trapped in front by left-arm pacer Trent Boult. After the first blow, Prithvi Shaw and Cheteshwar Pujara tried to rebuild the innings but the Kiwi pacers were at their best and they got timely wickets to keep India under pressure.

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After losing skipper Virat Kohli cheaply, yet again on this tour, his deputy Ajinkya Rahane came out to bat. But the New Zealand pacers Kyle Jamieson and Neil Wagner kept bowling short to Rahane as the right-hander even took a few blows on his helmet.

India spinner Harbhajan Singh who was on commentary was not happy with Rahane’s approach as the latter resorted to shuffling across the stumps and taking the ball on but did not look convincing. He said that Rahane was playing like a tail-ender and not like a top-order batsman.

The off-spinner who was not happy with the right-hand batsman said that he looked like a tail-ender and not at all like a proper top-order batsman. He also went on to say that it was Rahane’s worst innings and the way Wagner was bowling at him, it seemed as if there was a lower-order batsman at the other end.

Team India have Hanuma Vihari and wicket-keeper batsman, Rishabh Pant, at the crease. Thus, it will be interesting to see if they can take their 97-run lead to a respectable target to give the home team a fight.

(With Hindustan Times inputs)

 
 

By Swapnil Shireesh Javkhedkar - 01 Mar, 2020

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