‘Thank You Rahane’ seemed to be the motif of the tweets that the frustrated Twitterati made after Ajinkya Rahane’s duck in the second innings of the ongoing fourth Test match at the Oval, as the Indian Test vice-captain’s horror run on the England tour continued.
India resumed on day 4 at 270/3 and Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja added 59 crucial runs for the 4th wicket. Jadeja fell to Chris Woakes as he was trapped LBW for 17 runs in 59 balls.
In walked Ajinkya Rahane, whose highest score in the series came at Lord’s when he made 61 runs and was in dire need of a defining inning which would not only help him instill confidence in the team management who have backed him for so long but also helped India put up important runs to their lead and setting England a tough target.
Rahane showed decent defense but was given out LBW as he left a straight ball from Woakes. Rahane opted for a DRS review and the replays showed that the ball would have gone over the stumps.
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However, after Kohli played out an over from Ollie Robinson, Chris Woakes had another go at Rahane and on the fourth ball of the 104th over, got him out LBW when the Indian vice-captain tried to play across the line.
Though Rahane seemed to be going for another review, after a short chat with Kohli, Rahane walked towards the pavilion leaving India 296/5.
The Twitterverse was done with Ajinkya Rahane and opined that this must be it for the Mumbaikar in Test cricket.
He has not done anything of significance with the bat since his Melbourne ton and that fifty at Lord’s and his inability to score runs when India needed the most, should mean that someone else must be given a chance in his place.
Here are some of the tweets:
