Ajinkya Rahane performs well overseas, selectors can pick specific players for home and away conditions, feels MSK Prasad

12/10/2021

Former chief selector MSK Prasad has backed Ajinkya Rahane ahead of India’s upcoming tour of South Africa, citing his good overseas record, with the middle-order batsman having experienced a dry run throughout the year. Rahane has been replaced by Rohit Sharma as the Test team’s vice-captain.

Ajinkya Rahane scored a match-winning, and perhaps a series-defining hundred in the Boxing Day Test against Australia in Melbourne last year, and led the team to a famous 2-1 series win. However, his form with the bat took a major dip after the MCG Test, with the right-hander having aggregated just 411 runs at 19.57 from 12 Tests, with two 50-plus scores.

While Rahane did make it to India’s squad for their upcoming three-match Test series in South Africa, he was removed from the vice-captaincy role, with Rohit Sharma taking over.

However, former chief selector MSK Prasad backed the right-hander on the tour, citing his superior overseas record - 3,151 at 41.46 - as opposed to 1,644 at 35.74 at home.

"At the end of the day, it should be a mix of juniors and seniors,” Prasad told indiatoday.in. “Even in 2013, he (Rahane) did well. Usually, Rahane performs well in overseas conditions but his record at home hasn't been great. Taking these things into consideration, the selectors can look into players for home conditions and players for away conditions.

"Usually, Rahane is one guy who does really well in away conditions. Selectors are a bit puzzled because of his form. Whether they are going to look forward or back his experience is going to be their judgement."

Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli too, haven’t been able to put up significant scores in recent times, having registered their last Test hundreds in January 2019 and November 2019 respectively. With Pujara’s form too being a subject of debate alongside Rahane’s, especially with the emergence of Mayank Agarwal and Shreyas Iyer, Prasad felt that it was important for the selectors and the management to strike a balance between experienced players and youngsters.

"First of all, it is good to have a healthy headache for the selectors,” Prasad said. “And secondly, you need to have a system in place. How many opportunities would you be giving to a senior cricketer, when do you want to induct a youngster? How many youngsters are on a tour? These are the things you should take into consideration, there should be a good balance.

"You just can't simply remove all the seniors, at the same time, you can't carry on with all youngsters, especially when you are going away. At home, you can try things but when you go away experience counts a lot. That's why they need to have a perfect blend of youth and experience."

The first of three India-South Africa Tests will be played at Centurion’s SuperSport Park from December 26.