IND vs NZ | There is no harm if Ajinkya Rahane is dropped for a game, says Dinesh Karthik

India and New Zealand locked horns in the first Test of the two-match series, and a brilliant batting resistance from the Black Caps lower-order batsman helped their team to draw the opening fixture. Shreyas Iyer was adjudged Man of the Match for his stellar performance with the bat on his Test debut. The right-hand batsman also became the first Indian to score a hundred and a half-century in the maiden Test match. Indian spinners, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Aswhin, and Ravindra Jadeja shined for the team with exuberant bowling performances.

However, Rahane failed to impress everyone, and posted scores of 35 and 4 in the Kanpur test to continue his poor run this year. The current form of the India vice-captain has opened doors for fuming debates among fans and experts over his spot in India’s playing XI. The middle-order batsman has a meager average of 19.6 in 2021.

Meanwhile, Dinesh Karthik has stated that dropping Ajinkya Rahane from the playing XI for the Mumbai Test will ease some pressure off the right-hand batsman. Karthik further added that Shreyas Iyer’s current form will definitely mount pressure on the India vice-captain.

"With Shreyas Iyer coming in and doing so well, I think the pressure will obviously be on Rahane and he might be the one to be dropped. This has happened during a tour of South Africa when Rahane was dropped for a game before he again came back. There is no harm if Rahane's dropped for a game.

"Iyer has literally taken India to a safe zone in this Test on his own. He's done really well. And it's not like Rahane has not been among the runs in 1-2 Tests. It has been going on for a long time now. I don't think it's such a bad thing for him to be dropped. It will ease some of the pressure on him," said Karthik on Cricbuzz.

The second Test match between India and New Zealand is scheduled to begin on Friday, December 3 in Mumbai, and Virat Kohli, who opted out of the three-match T20I series and the first Test against the Black Caps, will return to the squad to feature in the series decider at Wankhede.