IPL 2018: Zaheer Khan Questions Ajinkya Rahane's Batting Position

Former Indian cricketer Zaheer Khan has recently raised questions over Rajasthan Royals‘ (RR) skipper Ajinkya Rahane‘s batting position.

Meanwhile, Rahane has time and again batted below than his preferred opening slot. However, this has affected his performance as he has struggled to score those big fifties.

In the 14 league games, Rahane has managed to score only 324 runs, third highest in the team.

However, Rajasthan is currently playing their last league game against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). It is a do-or-die clash for both the teams as whoever wins will be one step closer to the qualifying.

Rajasthan, opting to bat first, pushed Jofra Archer and Rahul Tripathi to open the innings. Rahane had to sacrifice, however, the gamble didn’t pay off as Archer departed for a golden duck.

Coming at one drop, Rahane partnered Tripathi to rebuild the innings.

However, he will curse on himself as he failed to capitalise the start. The Royals skipper Rahane departed scoring 33 runs as Umesh Yadav tapped him plumb in front of the wickets.

However, Tripathi’s unbeaten knock of 80 runs off 58 guided Rajasthan over the 150-run mark on a surface which proved to be slower on the side.

Zaheer Khan questions Rahane’s batting position:

The former seamer-turned-commentator Zaheer raised speculations over India international’s batting order. He also added that it is the biggest mystery for him and questioned who is taking the call.

“Ajinkya Rahane not opening for RR has been the biggest mystery for me #IPL2018 . Wonder if it’s his decision or the think tank’s ?” the tweet read.

Ajinkya Rahane not opening for RR has been the biggest mystery for me #IPL2018 . Wonder if it’s his decision or the think tank’s ?

— zaheer khan (@ImZaheer) May 19, 2018

Rajasthan will now have to bowl well and defend the target against a star-studded RCB batting. Rahane and management will want their bowlers to deliver in the crunch situations.

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