IND vs NZ | ‘No one can judge form’ – Virat Kohli backs struggling Ajinkya Rahane ahead of South Africa tour
India captain Virat Kohli has backed senior batsman Ajinkya Rahane saying that no one can judge anybody’s form and every individual knows what part of game he should work on. Kohli further added that it is important to back those players who have made impact performances in difficult situations.
India defeated New Zealand in a two-match Test series by 1-0 beating the visitors by 372 runs in the Mumbai Test. With the victory, India sealed their 14h consecutive Test series win at home. In spite of a dominating performance in the series, the lean patch of two senior batsmen Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara is still an issue of concern. The situation is becoming tougher for both these batsmen as the new batsmen are coming in the team and putting on performances that make it difficult for selectors to ignore them.
Rahane has a poor average of 24.39 in his last 16 Test matches including a century in the Boxing day Test nearly a year ago. The right-hander managed scores of 35 and 4 in the Kanpur Test which has pushed his career average below 40. India captain Virat Kohli has backed Ajinkya Rahane saying that no one can judge his form and it is important to back the players who have made impact performances in difficult situations. He further added that any decision will not be taken based on the outside atmosphere.
"I can't judge Ajnkya's form," Kohli said. "Nobody can judge anybody's form, for that matter. Because only an individual knows what part of his game he has to work on. But, as I have said in the past, it is important to back those players who have made impact performances in difficult situations and important Test matches in the past. We don't entertain this kind of atmosphere in the team that a player starts worrying about 'what next' the moment he is under a little bit of pressure,” he further added.
"Yes, we can't expect this kind of balance from those on the outside where those who are singing praises will be asking for a player's head in two months. We don't react that way ever nor will we do it in the future because we know how much effort and hard work goes in for any person to get into a positive mental space, and we will support it. Be it Ajinkya or whoever. We will never take decisions based on the outside atmosphere."
With the performance of Shreyas Iyer, the option of middle-order batsmen is extended to Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara and Shreyas Iyer. Also, Shubhman Gill and Mayank Agarwal might have to sit out after KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma come back in the squad. Selectors might have a selection headache for choosing the team for the South Africa series. Kohli revealed that these important decisions can be made after discussion with selectors.
"Those are discussions we are going to have now with the selectors. It is a good headache to have but you always want clarity in these things. And understand that it is always great to know exactly what you want to do before you head into a series like South Africa. Those things are very important to address, and we are going to have discussions straight away when we get to the hotel now,” he revealed.
It was speculated that India team management was considering Shubhman Gill to slot in the middle order as KL Rahul was supposed to open the innings against New Zealand. Rahul didn’t recover from his injury for the series and the middle order is crowded more with the brilliance of Shreyas Iyer. Kohli commented that there will be a discussion and specialists in certain positions will be decided.
"That's a discussion that needs to take place: who we think are specialists in certain positions. These are not things I can sit here and answer in a press conference. You need discussions on these things, you need to analyse what is best for the team and the individuals as well, and come to a common conclusion,” he concluded.
"More often than not, issues are discussed, and we come to a collective decision, which feels the most balanced. That's the same process we are going to follow moving forward as well. It is upon lengthy discussions where everyone puts in their ideas."