Former Indian batsman VVS Laxman said Ajinkya Rahane is a very important member of the Indian cricket team, but the vice-captain needs to produce his best if the tourists are to have a chance of winning their first Test series in England after 14 years.

Since his match-winning century against Australia at Melbourne last year, Rahane has scored a fifty only once in 13 innings and Laxman pointed out the vice-captain’s trouble dealing with the short balls ahead of the five-match Test series against England, starting on August 4 at Trent Bridge.

The right-hander managed two fifty-plus scores across 10 innings when India visited England last time in 2018. But it was in 2014 when Rahane made headlines by scoring a century at Lord’s and Laxman is confident of such performance from the Test specialist in the upcoming Test series in England if he sorts out his game plan against the short-pitched deliveries.

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Ahead of the Test series in England, Laxman advised Rahane to be judicious with his pull shots, and swaying away from those deliveries would be a good option for survival.

Laxman said during a discussion on Star Sports: “He is a very important member of this Indian batting lineup, especially in overseas conditions. I still remember the way he batted at Lord’s, in Melbourne and also the way he batted in South Africa was instrumental in India winning those Test matches.”

The legendary Test batsman further noted, “The one thing I feel that Ajinkya Rahane has to sort out is his game plan against short-pitched deliveries. We saw that in the series against New Zealand, we also saw that in the World Test Championship final.”

He signed off by saying, “It almost was the game plan of the opposition bowlers to set him up with a barrage of short-pitched deliveries and Ajinkya Rahane has got only one option, which is to play the pull shot but when you are playing at the highest level you should also know which ball to play the pull shot and which ball to let go.”