Published: May 19, 2015, 02:23 PM (IST)
Edited: May 19, 2015, 02:23 PM (IST)
With India touring Bangladesh for a one-off Test series, skipper Virat Kohli has decided to pull out of the tour following a long and tiring season. This automatically paves way for a new Test captain. Although there are many candidates for the job, Pramod Ananth feels Ajinkya Rahane will be the perfect fit.
Ajinkya Rahane is just at the beginning of his career but has been one of India’s most consistent performers over the last two years. He usually bats at No.5, a slot earlier occupied by Sourav Ganguly at one point of time. It is just not his batting that will probably make Rahane a good leader: it is the calmness that he brings into his batting that could be an example to many. He is a player who genuinely believes playing shots on the ball’s merit. Ajinkya Rahane: Rahul Dravid will always remain one and only ‘Wall’ in cricket
Ajinkya Rahane Test career
| Player | M | I | Runs | HS | Ave | 100s | 50s |
| Ajinkya Rahane |
14 |
27 |
1077 |
147 |
44.87 |
3 |
6 |
In the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015, Rahane said that he could not sleep at night after he got out to a rash shot against Mumbai Indians (MI). Rahane’s determination to do well in the next match clearly showed as he smashed a match-winning 91 against Delhi Daredevils (DD). Ajinkya Rahane says century at Lord’s was special
Rahane is a player who learns from his mistakes quickly and finds ways to improve his game day in and day out. The entire team can take cue from this and apply likewise. The thing that will probably go against Rahane is the fact that he does not have prior experience of captaining the side at domestic level. But his temperament and consistency certainly warrants him a chance to lead the team, especially when the regular captain is away. Rajasthan Royals lucky to have Ajinkya Rahane, says James Faulkner
Suresh Raina had led the Indian team in One-Day Internationals (ODI) on India’s 2010 tour to Zimbabwe when he was just about making a name for himself in the Indian team. India went in with a young team back then. They lost the tri-series, which also featured Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, and Raina, despite having a background of captaining Uttar Pradesh in many First-Class and List A games, did not do a good job when it came to the big stage. In Fact, in his 12 matches as captain, Raina has scored just 232 runs at 25.77, which includes a highest score of 43.
Raina’s example proves that you can have all the experience and success as captain at domestic stage, but that does not necessarily transform into success at the big stage. Kohli was tipped to be India’s next big thing ever since he led India Under-19 to World Cup triumph in 2007. It is not much of a surprise that he has come a long way but has captained Delhi in just three First-Class matches prior to being awarded captaincy against Australia in December 2014.
Virat Kohli as captain in First-Class
|
Player |
M |
I |
Runs |
HS |
Ave |
50s |
100s |
|
Virat Kohli |
5 |
9 |
703 |
147 |
100.42 |
3 |
3 |
Many feel Kohli should have played the one-off Test and skip the ODI series that would follow, but this is perhaps the best time to test out the other potential leaders in the team. Bangladesh are not the strongest of Test sides. This was a good opportunity for Kohli to register his first win as captain, but someone else will get the opportunity to make a mark. Rahane could be that man.
India is not short on options. The most experienced player in the current Indian setup happens to be Ishant Sharma with over 60 Tests. Along with him other names are definitely making rounds. Rahane will certainly be one of them.
(Pramod Ananth is a reporter at CricketCountry. He has represented Karnataka table tennis under-15, and is a hardcore supporter of Liverpool FC. His Twitter handle is @pramz)
