Outside Asia, muddle team selection has long been a glaring issue with Indian Cricket. During the ongoing South Africa tour, continues exclusion of Ajinkya Rahane, and that too for Rohit Sharma, proved once again that in unfamiliar conditions, team management, captain Virat Kohli and Coach Ravi Shastri becomes confused.
After all, Anyone with a little cricketing knowledge, can say that Ajinkya Rahane is a far superior test batsman than Rohit Sharma at any given day.
And, this is not a myth only, statistics also proves this. In his last 20 test innings, Rohit has managed to score only two half centuries, whereas Rahane has 7 half centuries and 4 tons in 29 innings outside Asia. At one glance, these numbers make more than a case for Rahane.
There is more to this than what meets the eye because Rahane’s form and performance outside of Asian conditions has been nothing short of outstanding. The right hander, who has scored a ton and a half century in his last three innings has not only played more than a 100 deliveries on each occasion, but also averages more than the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar outside of the subcontinent.
This proves Virat Kohli and team management have repeated a big mistake twice by dropping Rahane for consecutive tests. Big question is : will this cost Team India the test series?
