Senior batter Ajinkya Rahane was a notable inclusion when BCCI announced India’s squad for the upcoming World Test Championship (WTC) final in April.
The Rohit Sharma-led side will lock horns with Australia in the WTC final at the Oval in London from June 7 to 11.
Rahane was recalled to the Test side after Shreyas Iyer’s back injury opened a middle-order slot. The right-hander was dropped from the Test team in 2022 following an extended lean patch but he had a decent Ranji Trophy 2022-23 season, amassing 634 runs from seven games at an average of 57.63 while leading Mumbai.
Rahane is likely to feature in India’s playing XI for the WTC final and a failure in the one-off game could potentially be career-ending.
Meanwhile, India head coach Rahul Dravid offered a word of advice to the experienced batter.
"Firstly it's good to have him. We've had a few injuries which have probably led to him having the opportunity to come back into the squad. Great for us to have someone of his quality back," Dravid said while addressing the media on Monday (June 5).
"He brings obviously a lot of that experience, he brings proven performance in overseas conditions. Even in England he's played some terrific innings for us.
"He brings terrific catching in the slips as well to the group. He just brings his personality to the group as well which is really important. He's led the team to considerable success. And again, I wouldn't want him to approach this as just a one-off," he added.
Dravid reckons Rahane, a veteran of 82 Tests, might go on to play many more five-day games for the country.
"Sometimes you get dropped from teams and you make a comeback and you can play for as long as you're playing well and as long as you're performing. It's not written in stone or rule that you only get one match. He puts in a good performance, really shows what he's got.
"Who knows, even when people come back from injury, you never know what can happen. So again, from my point of view, it's not really only about this match. Yes this match is important but then in the larger context of things there's a lot of cricket to be played further down the road as well," the coach said.
Notably, Rahane has travelled to UK for the WTC final on the back of his stunning exploits in IPL 2023 for CSK. He played a key role in CSK’s triumphant campaign, amassing 326 runs from 11 innings at a remarkable strike rate of 172.48 with two half-centuries.
(With PTI Inputs)
