End of World Cup hopes? Ajinkya Rahane’s white-ball career hits another roadblock

In the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League, Ajinkya Rahane has often cut a confused figure.

He was not meant to be the captain of the Rajasthan Royals side, but he was anointed the leader a few days before the season.

He was not meant to be the aggressor at the top of the order in the powerplay, but D’Arcy Short’s poor form forced him to playing an attacking game that isn’t natural to him.

But then Jos Buttler was moved up the order and that gave Rahane the freedom to play his natural game – that of an accumulator – but he has either ended up playing long innings that were slower than what his team required or ended up getting dismissed playing the big shot when he doesn’t have to anyway.

Confusion. That one word, perhaps, sums up Rahane’s past few months as a cricketer.

Let’s do a quick recap, see if you can stay with us here:

It all started when MS Dhoni, in the last few days as India captain, said Rahane cannot bat in the middle order in limited overs format because he has a problem rotating the strike when there is no pace on offer.

He continued in the middle order for a few more tours. And then when he got a good run of games as the opening batsman against New Zealand at home in 2016, he struggled to make the most of it. He did not feature in the Champions Trophy, but got a chance again as opener in West Indies when he scored runs but struggled to get the big, match-winning scores.

He came back to India, had a fantastic series as an opening batsman against Australia but that only convinced Virat Kohli that he is the back-up opener in the current set-up, given Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan’s recent form.

In the meantime he was starting to struggle with the red-ball in Indian conditions (more than he has traditionally struggled) and ended up losing his place in the Test side as well in South Africa, despite having the reputation of India’s best overseas batsman.

But that all changed again when he played well in the third Test, and soon, he was back in the ODI lineup again - but this time at No 4 – a position that India have had trouble with - and not as a backup opener. It started off well for him, as he made a stylish 79 in the first match but followed that up with 11, 8, 8 and 34*.

And here we are, in the middle of the IPL, where Rahane finds himself out of the ODI squad for the tour of England, one year before the World Cup in the same country.

From Dhoni to Kohli, there have been a slew of mixed messages directed at Rahane... not being good enough in the middle order, to struggling to score run quickly at the top, followed by being a back-up opener and then, finally, one in the many who have been tried out at No 4 in hope they will click.

This confusion surrounding Rahane has clearly not helped his batting form in white-ball cricket, but more worryingly, has caused his numbers in Test to plummet as well.

While part of the blame would have to go the management for not defining his role properly, Rahane has to take the blame for not making the most of the opportunities he got either. A home series against New Zealand as an opener? A chance. An away series in West Indies as an opener against an average bowling attack? Another chance. An away series in conditions that he likes to bat in South Africa at No 4? A massive chance to plug a hole for his side.

Wasting chances

And yet, all these chances have come and gone for Rahane, and he’s not grabbed any of them with both his hands. Plenty of middling knocks, plenty of boundaries in those runs that made you go - ‘ah! What a classy player!’ but not enough innings that made your jaw drop and say ‘well, he better be retained in the squad after that!’

India played the Champions Trophy in the UK in the summer of 2017. India will play a full white-ball series in the UK in the summer of 2018. And then India will play the World Cup in the UK in the summer of 2019. Rahane was picked for the first tournament, but didn’t play a game. He has been left out of the squad for the second tournament, with KL Rahul seemingly taking the slot as a back-up opener / option at No 4. All signs indicate that this scenario will extend to the World Cup as well, unless Rahane has a phenomenal run in the Test series against England.

“It gives him freedom to go after the bowlers,” Kohli said before last year’s New Zealand series when he confirmed Rahane will be the third-choice opening batsman, after the Mumbaikar’s good run against Australia. “So as I said we don’t want to confuse him, he is in a happy space and he knows whenever someone is not going through a good phase or there is an injury, he is there, right at the doorsteps waiting to play a game whenever the team requires him to.”

We wonder if he is still in that happy space. We wonder if he is still not confused. We wonder and we are confused – probably not as much as Rahane but confused all the same.