Ajinkya Rahane Entangled in Multiple Expectations

By: Sandipan Bose

The bane of modern cricket is that you have to do well across all formats. The likes of successful Test batsmen must also bat with the same intensity in the ODIs and T20s.

Rising Pune Supergiants’ Ajinkya Rahane is one such player who finds himself entangled in multiple expectations.

On the one hand he has emerged an accomplished Test batsman for India; on the other, he continues to fall short of expectations in the shorter formats of the game.

It’s not that Rahane has a technical shortcoming or any temperamental issue while batting in the ODIs and T20s. By any stretch of the imagination, there aren’t many who can match the talent of this Mumbai batsman.

He has all the attributes of a classical top-order player. It’s just that Rahane’s copy-book batting style slightly slows down the pace of scoring on slow wickets.

That is why the purists are behind him. They believe that the Indian team is spoilt for choice and that is why Rahane is on the receiving end.

There are also a few who believe that Rahane isn’t given the time and space in the shorter versions of the game to build his confidence.

Yes, there were a few occasions when the team management couldn’t fit Rahane in to the scheme of things. But that is how it goes. Without a doubt, a player like Rahane is important even in the slam-bang version of the game.

But these formats also demand some kind of aggression at some point of the innings, without which it is tough to imagine someone playing a T20 game. Therefore, maintaining a balance is another important aspect of batting.

It does not mean that if a batsman like Virat Kohli is doing the bulk of scoring for his team, he is going to take his team over the finishing line. There are other elements in the game, which are equally important.

For example, the impact of a player and how quickly he can secure those runs. So the strike-rate bit has to be good. Above everything you have to be decisive.