England vs India 2021: I Do Not Think We Have Arrived At That Point Where Ajinkya Rahane's Form Should Become A Concern, Says Vikram Rathour

Indian batting coach Vikram Rathour backed vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane for his poor show in the ongoing Test series against England.

Rahane is going through a lean patch with the bat and apart from his 61 at Lord’s, the senior Indian batsman has not added enough runs throughout the series which displays a lack of consistency.

Ajinkya Rahane’s poor form continues

Rahane has amassed 109 runs from seven innings at an average of 15.57 and once again his critics have started asking for his snub from the Indian team to allow either Suryakumar Yadav or Hanuma Vihari to replace him.

On Sunday, Rahane was dismissed for a duck after he was trapped leg before wicket by England all-rounder Chris Woakes.

We are hoping Ajinkya will get back into form and still play a major role in the Indian team’s batting: Vikram Rathour

But Rathour feels that this is the time for the team management to support the batsman as there comes a time in every player’s career where they will lack with their form and the Indian batting coach said that the team’s vice-captain’s form is not a concern at the point.

“As I said earlier also, when you are playing cricket for a long time, you will have phases where you will not get runs. That is the time when we need to support the player as a team. As we saw with Pujara also, he has played a couple of important innings for us. We are hoping Ajinkya will get back into form and still play a major role in the Indian team’s batting. I do not think we have arrived at that point where Rahane’s form should become a concern,” Rathour said in a virtual press conference. 

“When you are playing such an important series like this one, playing in the conditions which are tough for batting and we are playing against such a disciplined bowling attack, which has been bowling so well, so as a batting unit, the technique is the last thing you should be thinking about. I do not think we are looking at technique right now, there is time to look for it, I do not think mid-series or mid-game is the time for that,” he added.

India scored 466 runs after all-rounder Shardul Thakur (60) and wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant fired in the end to put 466, a whopping lead of 367. In response, England openers showed grit and scored an unbeaten 77 with the hosts need 291 runs more to win the fourth Test.

Also Read: England vs India 2021: If Ajinkya Rahane Isn’t Able To Perform, Then Let Gates Open For Suryakumar Yadav Or Hanuma Vihari: Danish Kaneria