Team India’s vice-captain in the longest format of the game, Ajinkya Rahane has been criticized a lot for his poor performances of late. The right-handed batsman has only managed to score 109 runs in the ongoing Test series against England which includes a half century knock at Lord’s.

While Rahane is likely to be backed for the remainder of the series, former Pakistan cricketer Danish Kaneria called the Mumbai-lad a ‘total flop’ and backed batsmen Suryakumar Yadav or Hanuma Vihari to replace the 33-year-old in the playing XI.

“India’s middle-order collapsed again. Ajinkya Rahane has been a total flop in this series. I think, now the time has come for India to really think about Ajinkya Rahane. Not only Rahane, but India’s overall batting is also in poor form,” Kaneria said in his latest YouTube video.

ENG v IND 2021: Pitch invader Daniel Jarvis arrested on charges of assault

“I don’t know why Suryakumar Yadav and Hanuma Vihari are not being given a chance in the playing XI. Suryakumar Yadav and Prithvi Shaw were called up to the Indian team in England from Sri Lanka.

Everyone has seen how Rahane is struggling. As for Suryakumar Yadav, he looks like someone who is capable of scoring runs in all conditions. He could have been given a chance according to me,” the former cricketer concluded.

Virat Kohli’s deputy Rahane had shown signs of his return to form with his gritty knock of 61 runs in the second innings of the Lord’s Test, but failed to carry on from there as his scores in further outings were 18, 10 at Leeds and a 14 in the first innings of The Oval Test.

Thus, it will be interesting to see how the Mumbai-based cricketer bats in the second innings of this ongoing fourth Test match as the series is well poised at 1-1.