In Kanpur, You Can't Play With An Angled Bat - VVS Laxman Analyses Ajinkya Rahane's Shot Selection In His Dismissal To Kyle Jamieson

Former India batsman VVS Laxman raised questions over Ajinkya Rahane’s shot selection in his dismissal to New Zealand pacer Kyle Jamieson on the first day of the Kanpur Test.

Ajinkya Rahane, India’s stand-in captain for the game, failed to make his start count once again and was dismissed by Jamieson, as he inside-edged a length delivery which was outside the off-stump back onto his sticks while misjudging the low bounce of the pitch.

VVS Laxman asserted that a batsman can play such shots on truer batting surfaces where there is good bounce. However, he added, Ajinkya Rahane shouldn’t have played with the angled bat and instead should have presented the straight face of the bat.

“It was an instinctive shot that led to his dismissal. It’s okay to play besides the line in places like South Africa and Australia even if there is not much width, because of the bounce, you can hit through the square of the wicket,” Laxman told Star Sports.

“In Kanpur, you can’t play the ball where there is no bounce at all. You have to play with the full face of the bat, maybe a vertical bat. You can’t play with an angled bat.”

It was a fairly average shot from Ajinkya Rahane: Simon Doull

Former New Zealand seamer Simon Doull opined that Ajinkya Rahane had invited trouble by going with an angled bat against Jamieson on a pitch with uneven bounce.

He felt that while Shubman Gill got a terrific delivery – which took an inside edge while breaching his defence – Rahane’s shot selection wasn’t a good one.

“If you are playing with a 45 degree angled bat, you are asking for trouble when there is invariable bounce. One will bounce and catch the top edge of your bat and one will not and maybe catch the under-edge,” Simon Doull said.

“These sort of pitches, you see the chop-on quite often. We have seen 2 already today. One was a good delivery to Shubman Gill. But the one that got Rahane was not a great delivery and a fairly average shot when he looks back at it.”

Meanwhile, debutant Shreyas Iyer and Ravindra Jadeja have taken control of the innings with a century stand.

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