Ajinkya Rahane spoke his mind about not being given a consistent run in ODIs. He played his last match against South Africa in Centurion on January 16, 2018, and made an unbeaten 34.
It’s more than a year since, and Rahane has not found a place in the Indian team for the limited-over games and it appears — from the point of the team-management and the national selectors — he’s not really in the running for a berth in the World Cup squad.
Former national selector, Sanjay Jagdale, who was in Nagpur on Tuesday to see the second ODI between India and Australia, believes that Rahane should be in the Indian team for the quadrennial event to be held in England and Wales.
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Over-reliance on Kohli
He doesn’t believe that Ambati Rayudu or Dinesh Karthik is the answers for the No. 4 spot. “I am not convinced and I think Rahane has the experience of playing in England and he should be playing this series. He has not been given the confidence. How long can India rely only on Virat Kohli?” asked Jagdale.
Jagdale also said that Rishabh Pant, who was in good nick in the four Test series in Australia, should have played the ODI series in New Zealand. Pant closed the series with an aggressive unbeaten 159 in Sydney. “He was in good form and he was not played in the one-day series in New Zealand. He was sent back home. Rishabh is India’s future.”
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The former BCCI secretary Jagdale is pleased with the showing of both Vijay Shankar and Ravindra Jadeja in the second ODI. “I have not seen much of Vijay Shankar, but from what I have seen today [Tuesday], he looks good. And Jadeja has played a lot of cricket to bring in experience,” trailed off the former Madhya Pradesh allrounder who has played 53 First Class matches.