What's new

Ajinkya Rahane - What do India do with him in spin friendly conditions?

Hasan123

Hasan123

Test Star
Joined
Mar 25, 2016
Runs
38,432
Ajinkya Rahane is brilliant batsmen in pace friendly conditions as shown by his performances in England and Australia. But has shown vulnerabilities in spin friendly conditions.

Question is do India stick with him in the hope that he improves in these conditions, or do they drop him and allow him to work on his weakness?

Discuss.......
 
Drop him. He simply is atrocious against spinning ball.

These new batsmen can handle pace and bounce and even swing. But once the ball starts spinning viciously, they fall like 9 pins.

India should prepare the ones they did against Kiwis. Flat with a bit of spin.

Rank turners are making ordinary spinners like Elgar and Okeefe look like Murali. Totally nullifying Indias advantage.

By now BCCI must have realized that rank turners are not India's strength. As it is guys like Rahane and Vijay struggle against spin. With rank turners, they are looking like sitting ducks.
 
Likes of Sidhu and Azharuddin must be weeping looking at how poorly some of the current Indian batsmen play spin.
 
Make him open in India if he is in XI and such a valuable player. You can either drop Vijay or ask Rahul to come down the order (at No.5). I think the story is same with all 3 guys (inconsistency). But at least Vijay & Rahul are assuring 1 century in 3 to 5 innings while Rahane is not doing even that (in India). So this ploy (asking Rahane to open in India) can be employed only if you are looking ahead of Vijay and/or making it ease for Rahul for the time being.

Anyhow for the next match the situation is probably like playing 6 batsmen in which case Rahane may well retain his place unless management looks at Mukund.

Indians were hiding this batting weaknesses because of combined batting effort (including late order) on flat pitches and sustained bowling efforts. We will face problems on extremely sportive pitches wherein toss and luck will also come into play.
 
sensible-indian-fan said:
Yes we should make pattas cos Rahane can't play spin.
Click to expand...

Good batting pitches with assistance to spinners on 4th and 5th day.

Rahane not able to play spin and then going with 5 batsmen was never going to work in a long run.

Rank Turners gives more chances to the opposition than what a normal Indian wicket would give to them.

India are still favourites for the series unless they keep playing poor cricket.
 
Last edited:
Ab Fan said:
Good batting pitches with assistance to spinners on 4th and 5th day.

Rahane not able to play spin and then going with 5 batsmen was never going to work in a long run.

Rank Turners gives more chances to the opposition than what a normal Indian wicket would give to them.
Click to expand...

That I agree but we preparing spinning track should not be justification of Rahane's failure.

Also we did prepare flat tracks for England series. Rahane didn't score in them and worse part was that he faced Ali and Rashid.

Imagine what would happen if he were to face our spinners on any track? Except total pattas, he would struggle to pile on runs on any pitch.
 
sensible-indian-fan said:
That I agree but we preparing spinning track should not be justification of Rahane's failure.

Also we did prepare flat tracks for England series. Rahane didn't score in them and worse part was that he faced Ali and Rashid.

Imagine what would happen if he were to face our spinners on any track? Except total pattas, he would struggle to pile on runs on any pitch.
Click to expand...

It wasn't a justification to Rahane's failure.

That England series cant be taken completely as a formulation of conclusion. He has scored twin centuries vs SA in Delhi and that 188 vs NZ.So, he can score on flat normal Indian wickets.

Or on heavy spinning pitches, Keep him and play Nair at 6. The point is that the five batsmen strategy wasn't going to work for long run.You have Ishant Sharma hardly been used in the previous test even though he is one of the frontline and experienced bowler in the team.
 
Last edited:
The question is not just about Rahane. Our openers are inconsistent even on flat pitches. Even people like Sadagopan Ramesh, Deepdas Gupta, Sanjay Bangar, Akash Chopra, etc, were far more consistent on any kind of pitches against any kind of bowlers and they were doing the job of what was expected from openers! We are pleading our openers to do this job at least even if they can't do 50% of what Sehwag was doing! And Pujara at least 50% of Dravid.
 
Why single out Rahane?

Every one of them can't handle a turner. We saw it year before last in Lanka too, as well as in the home series vs South Africa. Elgar and Harmer wouldn't have prospered one little bit against Indian batting line-ups of years past.

The best of what is a mediocre bunch against heavy spin is probably Pujara. Everybody else is bog average.
 
Varun said:
Why single out Rahane?

Every one of them can't handle a turner. We saw it year before last in Lanka too, as well as in the home series vs South Africa. Elgar and Harmer wouldn't have prospered one little bit against Indian batting line-ups of years past.

The best of what is a mediocre bunch against heavy spin is probably Pujara. Everybody else is bog average.
Click to expand...

Nah, Kohli is better. He has improved his game so much against spin in the past year or so.
 
I wonder if playing him as an opener would make a difference. He seems to struggle against spin more early in his innings, it would make sense to allow him to settle against the pacers upfront before the spinners arrive.

He can play the moving ball and should have no problem opening in Tests. India also needs more consistency from its openers - Vijay is good but for all the talent that Rahul possesses, his failure rate is uncomfortably high. Perhaps, switching his position with Rahane will be beneficial to both and thus, to the team as well.
 
Mamoon said:
I wonder if playing him as an opener would make a difference. He seems to struggle against spin more early in his innings, it would make sense to allow him to settle against the pacers upfront before the spinners arrive.

He can play the moving ball and should have no problem opening in Tests. India also needs more consistency from its openers - Vijay is good but for all the talent that Rahul possesses, his failure rate is uncomfortably high. Perhaps, switching his position with Rahane will be beneficial to both and thus, to the team as well.
Click to expand...
Rahane's spin wooes are now well known.Opposition would start the proceeding with spinner or atleast one end.He was struggling against Rashid and co on flatter surfaces.So anyone can do the honours.
Most of his horrible spin play is in his head. I have seen him tackling spinners in domestics. He was nowhere near this bad.
 
Varun said:
Why single out Rahane?

Every one of them can't handle a turner. We saw it year before last in Lanka too, as well as in the home series vs South Africa. Elgar and Harmer wouldn't have prospered one little bit against Indian batting line-ups of years past.

The best of what is a mediocre bunch against heavy spin is probably Pujara. Everybody else is bog average.
Click to expand...

Reason being on normal turners or 4th and 5th day turner as well Rahane is having massive issues,he is unable to play that well at home and its not even a joke.
 
Pollack said:
Rahane's spin wooes are now well known.Opposition would start the proceeding with spinner or atleast one end.He was struggling against Rashid and co on flatter surfaces.So anyone can do the honours.
Most of his horrible spin play is in his head. I have seen him tackling spinners in domestics. He was nowhere near this bad.
Click to expand...

That would be a mistake of opposition if the pitch is a "one" which would turn on 3-5 days considering other batsmen will settle down.
 
rollingstoned said:
Do we ask him to go back to domestic cricket and work on his spin playing ability? We will need him in form before the foreign tours.
Click to expand...

He has had 4 years to work on his game and hasn't changed much.

People are living in denial if they think this guy is an all round bat.

Yes, he should go back to domestics and practice. But don't hold your breath cos he hasn't improved in like half a decade.
 
sensible-indian-fan said:
He has had 4 years to work on his game and hasn't changed much.

People are living in denial if they think this guy is an all round bat.

Yes, he should go back to domestics and practice. But don't hold your breath cos he hasn't improved in like half a decade.
Click to expand...
To be fair to Rahane, most of your batsmen are struggling...
 
Aman said:
To be fair to Rahane, most of your batsmen are struggling...
Click to expand...

Who really?

Kohli and Nair were looking good. Lapse of concentration and poor choice.

Rahul looked shaky at times but looks good now.

Pujara may have got out due to wrong technique.

Rahane is the only one who looks consistently shaky.
 
Kohli fails against spin = just a bad patch.

Rahane fails against spin = drop him.

Even though Rahane is their best batsman against swing seam and pace!
 
Hawkeye said:
Kohli fails against spin = just a bad patch.

Rahane fails against spin = drop him.

Even though Rahane is their best batsman against swing seam and pace!
Click to expand...

kohli only failed against seam in england a decade ago in his first series there and against spin in this 2 matches which is not over yet whereas rahane is failing against spin for a long time .....there is a difference
 
Lots of talent but the heart of a sparrow. Basically a rich man's Shafiq.
 
People should stop comparing him to the Big Four. He is clearly a step below, cannot match their consistency and mental strength.

Kohli is a machine when he is in his element, you just know he will score. Williamson has unflappable temperament, Root finds a way to score even when he isn't playing at the top of his game, and has looked much better than Rahane in the latter's home conditions. Smith is ahead of them all at the moment, incredible consistency.
 
At least he can play swing and seam to some extent, unlike Kohli and Pujara. India would make a grave error if they drop him for the next test. His confidence will be shattered and he may not regain it in time for the tour of South Africa, where he is going to be the main batsman.

Who would they drop him for anyways? Rohit Sharma?
 
Bilal7 said:
At least he can play swing and seam to some extent, unlike Kohli and Pujara. India would make a grave error if they drop him for the next test. His confidence will be shattered and he may not regain it in time for the tour of South Africa, where he is going to be the main batsman.

Who would they drop him for anyways? Rohit Sharma?
Click to expand...

For matches in Asia, Rohit would easily be a better choice.
 
Zak_Fan said:
For matches in Asia, Rohit would easily be a better choice.
Click to expand...

Rohit has zero ability to play the moving ball. He's worse than Rahane at playing spin and even when well set, will pull out an Umar Akmal moment and throw his wicket away.
 
Bilal7 said:
Rohit has zero ability to play the moving ball. He's worse than Rahane at playing spin and even when well set, will pull out an Umar Akmal moment and throw his wicket away.
Click to expand...

Averaging 70 after 7 Tests on Ashwin-friendly pitches doesn't sound too bad.
 
Zak_Fan said:
Averaging 70 after 7 Tests on Ashwin-friendly pitches doesn't sound too bad.
Click to expand...

Don't you know the logic by now. The pitch automatically changes in nature depending on whether Kohli is batting or Ashwin is bowling. If turns into a highway when Kohli comes into bat, and turns into a rank-turner half hour later when Ashwin bowls.
 
Mamoon said:
Don't you know the logic by now. The pitch automatically changes in nature depending on whether Kohli is batting or Ashwin is bowling. If turns into a highway when Kohli comes into bat, and turns into a rank-turner half hour later when Ashwin bowls.
Click to expand...

I am very well aware of his logic, it is just fun seeing him contradict himself again and again.
 
Indian pitches change from series to series, just compare the pitches South Africa played on and the ones England played on. Either people are too slow to get this or they're simply being delusional and imagining that Ashwin is taking 10-fers on phattas and Kohli is scoring doubles on rank-turners.

Indian pitches are the most heavily doctored in the world, yet people get offended when the achievements of "ATG" Ashwin and "ATG" Kohli are not regarded very highly.
 
Bilal7 said:
Indian pitches change from series to series, just compare the pitches South Africa played on and the ones England played on. Either people are too slow to get this or they're simply being delusional and imagining that Ashwin is taking 10-fers on phattas and Kohli is scoring doubles on rank-turners.

Indian pitches are the most heavily doctored in the world, yet people get offended when the achievements of "ATG" Ashwin and "ATG" Kohli are not regarded very highly.
Click to expand...

So India are doctoring pitches to lose ? :))
 
Hawkeye said:
Kohli fails against spin = just a bad patch.

Rahane fails against spin = drop him.

Even though Rahane is their best batsman against swing seam and pace!
Click to expand...

Its called consistency.

Kohli has clicked for India in SA, Aus, NZ (a bit)....and in Asia, he has had knockout series like vs Eng. Even in SL, Kohli looked average but still was our highest averaging batsmen (Vijay and Pujara didn't play all games but he was defo better than Rahane).

Rahane on the other hand has been consistently bad against spin for a long time. Even statistically, there are holes against spin if you analyze it deeply enough.

He doesn't do the basics right unlike Kohli.

Here's what Kohli does which Rahane doesn't:

1. Picks up length fast
2. Moves forward or backward
3. Smothers the spin or stays on backfoot to turn it over for a single

Kohli made 2 error in judgement in last 2 innings to get out. Otherwise he looked comfortable.

Rahane on the other hand, looks clueless. Even a shortish delivery that needs to be worked on for a single is turned into a magical super delivery due to his ineptitude.
 
His confidence is shattered,I am sure he will now fail abroad too
 
Get Hitman Sharma in asap.
Saha must be on his last chances, failure after failure with the bat.
 
Tusker said:
So India are doctoring pitches to lose ? :))
Click to expand...

Unfortunately for them and hilariously for the rest of the world, their doctored pitches have finally backfired on them in a big way.
 
Has stood up but needs to carry on.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Ball Blazer
[EXCLUSIVE] “Spin-friendly pitches will harm Pakistan’s fast bowlers": Mohammad Abbas
Replies
10
Views
868
BouncerGuy
BouncerGuy
M
Hassan Nawaz proving batting positions are irrelevant in T20s?
Replies
9
Views
784
Mohammad Aizaz
M
The Bald Eagle
[PICTURE] "This team will do great in the Champions Trophy": Aaqib Javed
Replies
64
Views
3K
BouncerGuy
BouncerGuy
FearlessRoar
Pakistan bowled out for 154 in the first innings, trailing by 9 runs at stumps on Day 1 of the second Test against the West Indies
7 8 9
Replies
696
Views
9K
kingusama92
kingusama92
Z
Who should be in Pakistan's T20I Squad for Bangladesh series 2025 after the conclusion of PSL X?
Replies
36
Views
2K
BouncerGuy
BouncerGuy
Back
Top