Ajinkya Rahane gives interesting take on why his and Virat Kohli's averages dropped in Test cricket

Ajinkya Rahane (Source: Twitter)

India has had a great start in the Test series against Bangladesh where they won the first Test at Chattogram by 188 runs. Jaydev Unadkat had a memorable comeback in the second Test after he donned the India whites after a period of 12 years.

On another note, one man who is making the news and hitting the right notes in domestic cricket has been Ajinkya Rahane. He made a superlative double hundred for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy against Hyderabad in the 2022-23 Ranji season and he said that he has still not lost hopes of making a return to the Indian Test side. He also spoke about Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and how his form has dwindled in Test cricket and outlined the reason for the same.

My dream is to still play for India: Ajinkya Rahane

“If we look at the averages, they have gone down because of the wickets because, as a batter, it is always challenging. For openers, it is easy, especially in India, when the ball is hard. When batters get out, we always think about what mistakes they are committing. But then No. 3-4-5—Pujara, Virat and me… all of our averages have gone down. So, I don’t think I was committing any mistakes. Yes, as a player, I always focus on where to improve, but every time we don’t commit mistakes, sometimes the wickets are such… it’s not an excuse, but that’s the reality. Everyone was watching, so they know what kind of wickets were prepared in India,” 

When it came to Test averages in the Indian middle order, After the Border Gavaskar Trophy ended in 2021, Cheteshwar Pujara had a superb average of 47.74 which has taken a sharp drop since then and is now 31.17 after the 16 Test matches since the 2020-21 series. When it comes to Virat Kohli there was a sharp drop from 53.41 to 28.74 in 16 games. Rahane’s average had decreased to just 20 from 42. 58 in 13 Tests.

“One thing is for sure, I will never give up. For me, the dream is to still play for India,” He said after he scored 204 which had 26 fours and three sixes. He also hit a double hundred in the Duleep Trophy. He also scored 263 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and was the second highest run scorer. He also led Mumbai to a victorious Syed Mushtaq Ali campaign.