IND vs SA: "Ajinkya Rahane's Experience Overseas..." - Sunil Gavaskar Rues Senior Batter Missing SA Tests

Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar opened up about the struggle of Team India batters in the ongoing Test against South Africa. He highlighted how Ajinkya Rahane played a staggering knock in Johannesburg a few years ago and added that his experience would have been handy in the ongoing series.

Ajinkya Rahane didn’t get picked in the ongoing two-match Test series against South Africa, which came as a bit of a surprise for many. The senior batter was earlier dropped from the team after the South African tour in 2021. But after that, he worked hard in the domestic circuit and made a comeback.

With Shreyas Iyer getting ruled out of the Indian squad for the ICC World Test Championship Final, Ajinkay Rahane was drafted in. The senior batter played sensational knocks in the final against Australia and helped the team in difficult situations.

Ajinkya Rahane looked in golden touch in both innings and after that was selected for the West Indies series. However, he failed there and with Shreyas Iyer being back, it meant the end of the road for him. The batter wasn’t picked for the ongoing series and his absence was quite evident.

India were put into bat first and they didn’t have the kind of outing they had. Young batters in Shubman Gill (2) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (18) didn’t have a great outing. Shreyas Iyer (31) tried to get going and played well. But he was undone by the movement of the ball and saw his stumps getting shattered after a vital start.

With India losing quick wickets, Sunil Gavaskar thrashed those who blamed the pitch for the poor show. He highlighted how in similar conditions Ajinkya Rahane played well. Speaking on Air, he explained:

“People have been talking about the pitch in the Johannesburg Test five years back and I was there. Yeah it wasn’t the easiest of pitches to bat on the odd ball was climbing up. And Ajinkya Rahane, who had not been picked for the first two Test matches, was picked for that game and he showed what the Indian team had missed because earlier on in the first couple of Test matches India did not lose by big margins.”

IND vs SA: If he had been there today the story could have been completely different – Sunil Gavaskar on Ajinkya Rahane

Sunil Gavaskar while stressing out at Indian innings in the ongoing game mentioned had Ajinkya Rahane been there the story would’ve been different. He highlighted his overseas records and stated:

“So maybe somebody with Rahane’s experience overseas… because Rahane overseas has been such a fine, fine player and maybe if he had been there today the story could have been completely different.”

India were asked to bat first and they were left tottering at 24/3. After that, Virat Kohli (38) and Shreyas Iyer (31) batted well and bailed the team out of trouble with their 68-run partnership. After their wickets, KL Rahul (70*) slammed a vital half-century and kept the team in the hunt. At Stumps on Day 1, India were 208/8.