Xtra Time Web Desk: Former Team India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar felt that Ajinkya Rahane had not little to prove his position in playing XI and that he should go back to playing Ranji cricket in a bid to find his mojo.
“It’s (his dismissal) a combination of a good delivery and Ajinkya Rahane’s form. He needs to go back and play first-class cricket and hopefully get his mojo back. I would not give Rahane another innings. Pujara has a stronger case in my book. Nothing about Rahane in the last 3-4 years gives me hope that he is coming back into form. There have been glimmers when he got a hundred in Melbourne. But, apart from that, nothing much,” Manjrekar said.
Rahane got dismissed by Kagiso Rabada, gloved one behind to the wicketkeeper to walk back for just one off 9. With the dismissal in the second innings of the third Test series against South Africa in Cape Town on Thursday. Rahane ended the series with just 136 runs in six innings, averaging 22.67, including that fifty he scored in the second innings of the Johannesburg Test.
Rahane had averaged below 25, fifth time in a row since 2020 in bilateral Test series, the other being – 2020 series in New Zealand, both the England series last year and the home contest against the BlackCaps.
Manjrekar further said, “”I am not convinced about (Mayank) Agarwal. They are the two (facing the axe), if I was Rahul Dravid, looking at batsmen to play abroad. If he’s honest with himself, he might be thinking it’s the end of the road (for Rahane). There’s some young exciting talent which now deserves a run.”