Ajinkya Rahane and KL Rahul need to turn up for the Test series against England

[Varun]

Potentially 10 innings in all, if we want to stand a fighting chance to win or draw or do well in general on this tour, we can't always rely on Kohli. There will come a time when he will fail.

Rahane and Rahul are test quality batsmen with knocks home and away - there is no reason for them poking around like this. Rahane scored a terrific ton on the greenest pitch at Lord's last time, what's changed?

I have no faith in Dhawan, Pandya, et al so obviously I'm leaving them out.

 

[WengerOut]

Potentially 10 innings in all, if we want to stand a fighting chance to win or draw or do well in general on this tour, we can't always rely on Kohli. There will come a time when he will fail.

Rahane and Rahul are test quality batsmen with knocks home and away - there is no reason for them poking around like this. Rahane scored a terrific ton on the greenest pitch at Lord's last time, what's changed?

I have no faith in Dhawan, Pandya, et al so obviously I'm leaving them out.

Rahane has been living off that Lords fluke for ages now. Jeez

 

[JaDed]

No one takes responsibility, they are putting everything on Kohli,feels.like.one of those projects we do where everyone leaves everything for the lead.

Even thebowlers take more responsibility than Rahane and Rahul.
We thought one of them would replacement for Dravid, hell right now they are not even near Laxman.

 

[Savage]

Rahane has been living off that Lords fluke for ages now. Jeez

If you remove year 2014 from his international career.Then he would be the definition of a Garbage Player(across all formats).But still I would still say that Rahane is 3rd best batsmen away from home after Smith and Kohli.(However it doesn't mean much overall as some people here might think).

 

[topspin]

I have no idea what has happened to Rahane, this guy was averaging 50 not so long ago and was destined to be another Indian great (at the very least) but he's turned into India's very own mentally weak Asad Shafiq.

 

[babajee]

If you remove year 2014 from his international career.Then he would be the definition of a Garbage Player(across all formats).But still I would still say that Rahane is 3rd best batsmen away from home after Smith and Kohli.(However it doesn't mean much overall as some people here might think).

Azhar Ali.

 

[Savage]

Azhar Ali.

ATM Azhar is better test batsmen than Rahane.But not sure about away from home.Rahane has hardly failed in any away tours(I think).

 

[King Kong]

People have a short memory. Didn't Rahane help us win the 3rd test in South Africa? He is almost as good as Kohli outside Asia.

 

[austerlitz]

If Rahane fails this tour,its curtains for him.We need overhaul of our batting lineup.Dhawan has failed enough - get shaw in.Give Pant a chance if DK fails,or even as Rahane replacement.Agarwal and Nair have performed well in domestics - why not give them a shot?
Undecided on Pujara.Vijay i think is too old and finished.
Rahul needs to be given consistent run as opener instead of constantly shifting him round.

 

[Savage]

If Rahane fails this tour,its curtains for him.We need overhaul of our batting lineup.Dhawan has failed enough - get shaw in.Give Pant a chance if DK fails,or even as Rahane replacement.Agarwal and Nair have performed well in domestics - why not give them a shot?
Undecided on Pujara.Vijay i think is too old and finished.
Rahul needs to be given consistent run as opener instead of constantly shifting him round.

Seriously it looks like most of our batsmen are finished.

 

[BaankeJi]

Seriously it looks like most of our batsmen are finished.

That is because we are having our conclusion on just one test. Let the series finish.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Pandya looked the second best batsman for India after Kohli. Very good chance he's gonna play a game changing innings.

 

[Ab Fan]

People have a short memory. Didn't Rahane help us win the 3rd test in South Africa? He is almost as good as Kohli outside Asia.

No. He scored 9 and 48 in the third test. Kohli scored 54 and 41 and Pujara scored 50 and 1.

 

[Varun]

An 81 for Rahane today.

After Rahul and Dhawan neutralized the new ball a bit.

 

[Ab Fan]

Very poor series for him. Got some soft runs in supporting role. Really no impact at all.

Kohli, Pujara,Rahul, Pant were superior batsmen to Rahane in this test series. The other three outside of Kohli weren't any good, which further proves how poor Rahane was as a batsmen.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Enough with Rahane.

Time to drop him.

2 years and no performance.

Let him score some runs in domestics and A tours and come back.

Even Pujara (whom I like a lot) needs to have others breathing down his neck.

 

[Ab Fan]

A good 3-4 years seems to have wasted watching the two, Pujara and Rahane, fail again and again.

Atleast Pujara had a decent series after continuous overseas failures. Rahane seems to have not overcome with his home failures and has been terrible during this overseas cycle till now.

 

[Slim]

Sorry brother [MENTION=132715]Varun[/MENTION], like i told you, it was always going to be a long suffering summer.

 

[giri26]

A good 3-4 years seems to have wasted watching the two, Pujara and Rahane, fail again and again.

Atleast Pujara had a decent series after continuous overseas failures. Rahane seems to have not overcome with his home failures and has been terrible during this overseas cycle till now.

Pujara played 8 innings and had two good ones. That is not enough from the number 3 on an overseas tour. The only thing that did was to keep him safe for the home series against West Indies. The 132 was brilliant and his 70 odd in the 3rd Test was good as well but apart from that he had an ordinary series. Rahane got lots of starts but did not convert even one into a big score. KL Rahul played a phenomenal innings yesterday but in 9 innings prior to that he did not convert any of the his starts.

 

[Ab Fan]

Pujara played 8 innings and had two good ones. That is not enough from the number 3 on an overseas tour. The only thing that did was to keep him safe for the home series against West Indies. The 132 was brilliant and his 70 odd in the 3rd Test was good as well but apart from that he had an ordinary series. Rahane got lots of starts but did not convert even one into a big score. KL Rahul played a phenomenal innings yesterday but in 9 innings prior to that he did not convert any of the his starts.

Yes, this is why I said Pujara atleast had a decent series. 2 quality inning on a total of 8 occasion is decent for a no.3

On Rahul, I feel he is talented exceptionally and might be given more run. He is 26 but it was a poor series for him as well no doubt.

On Rahane, well he got two fifties only both when Kohli was there on other end and he was playing a support role part. Once Kohli got out, he threw away in a quite timid fashion. He seems to have turned himself as a softie. More is expected from a no.5 who was once considered as an overseas specialist.

 

[giri26]

Yes, this is why I said Pujara atleast had a decent series. 2 quality inning on a total of 8 occasion is decent for a no.3

On Rahul, I feel he is talented exceptionally and might be given more run. He is 26 but it was a poor series for him as well no doubt.

On Rahane, well he got two fifties only both when Kohli was there on other end and he was playing a support role part. Once Kohli got out, he threw away in a quite timid fashion. He seems to have turned himself as a softie. More is expected from a no.5 who was once considered as an overseas specialist.

No it is not, Pujara, Kohli and Rahane were supposed to shoulder the Indian batting on this tour. All three of them have been and played in England before. 2/8 is not a good enough performance for India. We had a passenger as a opener. We decided to let Vijay go. These three were India's main stay in batting and if Pujara scores only in 25% of his innings, India will struggle to win anything overseas. Same with Rahane, he also scored couple of fifties and like you said never took the initiative as the vice captain of the side. He should have been there in the Southampton Test till the end and should have been the last batter out.

I was disappointed on two counts with Rahane at Southampton.
1. He got out right after Pant got dismissed even though India still had Ashwin to bat
2. Did not rein in Pant and calm him down. As a senior player he needed to just tell Pant, we don't have any one to follow, the field is spread for you, knock it around.
He does not act as a senior player and seems to be hard to find in the field most of the time. Same with Pujara as well.

This is the reason Kohli suffers in Tests more than ODI's. In ODI's Dhoni is vocal and gives suggestions. It may not help but still there is at least someone who can point out the errors in the decision of the captain.

In Test these guys don't do that and do not show that they are interested as well. They don't take the responsibility with the bat as well, the way Kohli does.

 

[Ab Fan]

No it is not, Pujara, Kohli and Rahane were supposed to shoulder the Indian batting on this tour. All three of them have been and played in England before. 2/8 is not a good enough performance for India. We had a passenger as a opener. We decided to let Vijay go. These three were India's main stay in batting and if Pujara scores only in 25% of his innings, India will struggle to win anything overseas. Same with Rahane, he also scored couple of fifties and like you said never took the initiative as the vice captain of the side. He should have been there in the Southampton Test till the end and should have been the last batter out.

I was disappointed on two counts with Rahane at Southampton.
1. He got out right after Pant got dismissed even though India still had Ashwin to bat
2. Did not rein in Pant and calm him down. As a senior player he needed to just tell Pant, we don't have any one to follow, the field is spread for you, knock it around.
He does not act as a senior player and seems to be hard to find in the field most of the time. Same with Pujara as well.

This is the reason Kohli suffers in Tests more than ODI's. In ODI's Dhoni is vocal and gives suggestions. It may not help but still there is at least someone who can point out the errors in the decision of the captain.

In Test these guys don't do that and do not show that they are interested as well. They don't take the responsibility with the bat as well, the way Kohli does.

I am also against Rahane and Pujara and that is why I said a good 4 years has been wasted on them, but atleast Pujara has proved that he can win games in Asia single-handedly and even if Kohli fails in Asia(remember Australia home series). He has been poor outside Asia but this is something which we all knew.

Rahane, though, has to be dropped. There is no point of having an overseas specialist who can't score overseas. You gave a perfect example of Southampton test. A VVS Laxman coming at 5 in that inning, 10 years ago would have won India that match as he knows how to play with the tailenders and was mentally much tougher than Rahane.

India can't change the whole batting lineup completely at this point. So, has to stay with Pujara at 3. He averaged a decent 39 in this series while Rahane averaged very poor 25.

 

[The_Odd_One]

I am also against Rahane and Pujara and that is why I said a good 4 years has been wasted on them, but atleast Pujara has proved that he can win games in Asia single-handedly and even if Kohli fails in Asia(remember Australia home series). He has been poor outside Asia but this is something which we all knew.

Rahane, though, has to be dropped. There is no point of having an overseas specialist who can't score overseas. You gave a perfect example of Southampton test. A VVS Laxman coming at 5 in that inning, 10 years ago would have won India that match as he knows how to play with the tailenders and was mentally much tougher than Rahane.

India can't change the whole batting lineup completely at this point. So, has to stay with Pujara at 3. He averaged a decent 39 in this series while Rahane averaged very poor 25.

Spot on. It will not be a bad idea to let Pujara open as both Dhawan and Vijay need to be dropped permanently. Pujara can at least see off new ball. Rahane has just no place with his pathetic home and away performances. India can easily draft in a younger batsman in the middle order.

 

[Ab Fan]

Spot on. It will not be a bad idea to let Pujara open as both Dhawan and Vijay need to be dropped permanently. Pujara can at least see off new ball. Rahane has just no place with his pathetic home and away performances. India can easily draft in a younger batsman in the middle order.

If Pujara opens, then no.3 slot will be empty. Personally, I dont want Kohli who is performing so well to change his position to 3. So, let Kohli be at 4. Pujara also at 3.

Get in Shaw at top along with Rahul.

At 7, Pant or Saha can keep on rotating depending on fitness and form.

At 6, Vihari and Pandya can keep on rotating. Pandya is not any great but a fifth bowling option will be needed in Australia.

At 5, maybe Gill but most probably Indian management will continue with Rahane. Too many young names already.

The Indian batting revolves around Kohli. The other names will keep on rotating unfortunately. Its not like the one in 2000s, where Dravid, SRT, VVS, Ganguly were your fixed middle order, Sehwag was a fixed opener and Dhoni was wicket-keeper.

The lineup can be something like:-

Shaw
Rahul
Pujara
Kohli
Gill/Rahane
Vihari/Pandya
Pant/Saha(wkt)
Jadeja/Ashwin
Ishant
Shami
Bumrah

 

[Hasan123]

KL at least has an excuse that it was his first test series in England. But what excuse does Rahane have ? He has been backed and he has enough experience of playing overseas yet he doesn't give that confidence that he will score big. He has the technique but he seems very soft and his demeanour at the crease is worrying. I don't think dropping him will help as it could ruin his confidence.

He won't be dropped anyway. I think Indian fans should just accept that he will be this inconsistent and not expect him to dominate series as you will just be in for disappointment.

 

[austerlitz]

Time to get agarwal and shaw in.

 

[Gabbar Singh]

Rahane turned up for 2/10 innings and Rahul 1/10. Not good enough at this level.

 

[troodon]

Rahane deserves to be dropped. He never looked comfortable playing both pace and spin.

Rahane to me is the main reason why we lost the series badly. He never took the responsibility to score runs. He also dropped catches which was unusual.

Rahul deserves a chance against WI at home. He will come good.

Dhawan and Rahane should be booted out. India should give chances to Shaw, Gill and Agarwal.

 

[Thomaskutty]

Drop Rahane, Dhawan and Pandya from the test team and bring in the youngsters!

 

[Savak]

Barring Kohli no one turned up and the likes of Pujara, Rahul did not turn up when it really mattered.

 

[Kohli The King of Chase]

Rahul

299 runs in 10 innings

150 in 9 innings
149 in 1 inning.

Didn't contribute enough, needs to be consistent. If not, these runs when match is out of our hands, won't help.