India’s red-ball vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane was criticized a lot for poor performances of late but looked very confident in the second Test match at Lord’s as he played a critical knock of 61 runs, but was dismissed yet again for a low score in Leeds.
In both innings in the third Test at Leeds, Rahane scored 18 and 10, respectively. Thus, the former India cricketer Maninder Singh believes head coach Ravi Shastri must sit Ajinkya Rahane down and talk to him to help the right-hander in his lean patch.
“I think there is going to be a lot of talk. Ravi Shastri is a good motivator and he has motivated this Indian team really well. That is why, probably, if you see their record since he has become coach, it has been pretty good. I would be expecting Ravi Shastri to be a little over-active. Ajinkya Rahane has played 80-odd Test matches. But Shastri can’t think that he has played 80 Tests so he knows his job,” Maninder Singh said in an ESPNCricinfo show.
The left-arm spinner then talked about how the greatest players of the game need to be motivated and having Rahane in a positive frame of mind is really important.
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“Sometimes even great players need to be motivated. You need to sit with them, maybe take him out for dinner or something. You need to keep telling Rahane that he has done it before, he can do it again, and that he has got to be in a positive frame of mind. That is one department where all coaches need to be proactive,” the 56-year-old said.
The former cricketer then pointed out Rahane’s average overseas is much higher than his average in India and the Mumbai-based batsman has always scored runs and sees no need to change in the current batting line-up.
“Ajinkya Rahane has been very tentative and I really don’t know why. His average abroad is much higher than his average on Indian pitches. He has always scored runs. I don't know what's gone wrong where. But I don’t see him getting dropped or anything. Can’t see any change as far as the batting line-up is concerned,” the leg-spinner cited.
“The only place that I can see a change in the Indian side is, probably, Ishant Sharma might go out and they might get a spinner in or, maybe, Shardul Thakur. That’s the only change I can see going into the next Test match. Rahane is going to stay,” he concluded.
Thus, after leveling the series 1-1, it will be exciting to see how both teams go about in the fourth Test match slated to begin from 2 September at the Kennington Oval in London.
(With ESPNCricinfo Inputs)
