Ajinkya Rahane's frailties against spin

[street cricketer]

Rahane is one batsman who has proved to be an all conditions batsman in the Indian team, and even in world cricket. Rahane is a touch player who doesn’t like to strain while hitting his shots but relies mostly on his timing to get his runs. His short stature may be deceptive but he actually likes more pace on the ball rather than a lack of pace. The way he was pulling Mitchell Johnson after tea at Melbourne or how he played a great cameo against South Africa in the 2015 world cup at the same ground will tell you how much he relishes pace on the ball.

However off late, he has looked pedestrian on slow wickets struggling with his timing. He just looks like a proper grinder against spin on the slow wickets that you often see in asia, which is very unlike him because he is usually a very fluent player. Think his biggest problem at the moment is his technique against spin. He has a problem in his technique against spin while defending. He doesn’t quite come to the pitch of the delivery while playing on front foot. He doesn’t take a big stride while defending like Kohli does while smothering the spin. This leaves a lot of distance for the ball to travel from the point where it pitches and the point of impact which makes him a very vulnerable candidate against the spin or the bounce on the delivery. Because he fails to smother the spin and bounce on the ball, he either gets lbw/caught behind in the slips or the ball gets big on him and he gloves it to the short leg or the silly point. This is how he got out today, note his front foot stride.



And compare that to someone like Tendulkar who had a similar short stature but always made it a point to make a huge front foot stride while defending against spin and played it with intent. I know they're different angles, but you can make out the difference in the strides and the intent.



Because of this poor technique of defending off the front foot, he is unable to judge the length of the delivery and starts cutting balls that he should be playing on the front foot (as it happened at Rajkot) or goes forward to a delivery that he should have gone back. I hope he somehow corrects his technique, Virat went through a similar patch in England and then corrected his technique against swing. Rahane always gives me the impression that he doesn’t show enough intent in defending against spin (you need intent even while playing a forward defense). He needs to make a big stride forward while defending, at the moment, it seems he is unsure of when to go forward and when to go backward. Hopefully, he somehow corrects this because he is too good a player to be failing in home conditions.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Can't pick the length.

Can't pick the googly.

Doesn't get forward enough to smother the ball.

Just sad really.

Just cos he is a good Test bat in general doesn't mean he will magically start doing all of this from the next test. He may manage here and there but this issue has been going on for years now. He has to get a coach and rebuild his spin playing game from scratch.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Rahane always gives me the impression that he doesn’t show enough intent in defending against spin (you need intent even while playing a forward defense). He needs to make a big stride forward while defending, at the moment, it seems he is unsure of when to go forward and when to go backward.

Excellent point.

Playing defense needs intent too.

Also concentration.

POTW thread.

 

[Rayyman]

[MENTION=132954]Aman[/MENTION] thinks Rahane is better than Kane.

 

[Enforcer]

Technique and Intent is one thing, but I feel Rahane is not confident enough while playing spin. I don't think sehwag had any noticeable front foot stride while playing spin, and yet he was incredible against spinner. And sehwag is a short man too.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Technique and Intent is one thing, but I feel Rahane is not confident enough while playing spin. I don't think sehwag had any noticeable front foot stride while playing spin, and yet he was incredible against spinner. And sehwag is a short man too.

Cos he was outrageous at picking length, picking what kind of deliveries to bowl, getting into position to hit it, etc.

Even Ajantha Mendis, Narine and Hogg made NO difference to him. I have seen others lullooing to them unable to pick them while Sehwag was casually smashing them around.

We can't compare 2 players while ignoring what goes on at the backend.

Rahane has none of the insane Sehwag skills so he has to follow a method.

 

[Hasan123]

He has a big problem on slow and low tracks. With hard work he can correct this problem.

Another thing about Rahane is whilst Indian posters rate him highly and say he's underrated, the thing about him is he plays 1 good knock a series and will than play supporting knocks. Virat seems to have more impact in series and plays well under pressure.


Rahane will be a fabulous test match player, but I think Kohli will be the better test player overall.

 

[Varun]

Fair to say he's been found out this series.

 

[KevinFern]

Superb post by street cricketer. Great analysis and got to agree to all of your points.

 

[Cricket-Pundit]

Personally I want him to open in tests aswell because of 2 reasons.. 1) He likes ball coming on to the bat and 2) I think once he's set he'll play the spinners more confidently

 

[Buffet]

He is having hard time picking the length. If he continues this then he is going to be in huge trouble against spin every time comes out to bat.

 

[street cricketer]

Technique and Intent is one thing, but I feel Rahane is not confident enough while playing spin. I don't think sehwag had any noticeable front foot stride while playing spin, and yet he was incredible against spinner. And sehwag is a short man too.

Confidence comes when you start playing a bowler well and that comes when you have the right technique to deal with the bowling.

Sehwag was a freak. He had incredible hand eye coordination and so footwork was hardly needed for him. Also I don't think he ever tried to defend against the spinners. Always tried to hit them all over the park whenever he saw a spinner.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Confidence comes when you start playing a bowler well and that comes when you have the right technique to deal with the bowling.

Sehwag was a freak. He had incredible hand eye coordination and so footwork was hardly needed for him. Also I don't think he ever tried to defend against the spinners. Always tried to hit them all over the park whenever he saw a spinner.

Sehwag couldn't have scored all those runs without having a workable defense against spinners.

I didn't follow the intricacies of cricket so closely during that time so can't comment much on that.

 

[street cricketer]

Sehwag couldn't have scored all those runs without having a workable defense against spinners.

I didn't follow the intricacies of cricket so closely during that time so can't comment much on that.

Definitely. I was saying I've never seen him defending for a long time against the spinners. Maybe a ball or 2, but will look to work the remaining balls in the over to a single or a boundary. Guy was one of the best ever spin players in world cricket.

 

[Adijazz1706]

Rahane is clueless against spin, the anti-Sehwag.

 

[Chrish]

He is becoming dead rubber specialist..

 

[Saj]

Excellent delivery by Rashid but very surprising to see an Indian batsman look so clueless against a leggie.

 

[Tera Gawaandi]

Rahane should be dropped from squad, no away tour, he is useless on Indian pitches.

 

[Navdeep Srivastava]

Excellent delivery by Rashid but very surprising to see an Indian batsman look so clueless against a leggie.

I respect your knowledge, but by no means that was excellent ball , it was normal googly.

 

[OS_89]

Technique and Intent is one thing, but I feel Rahane is not confident enough while playing spin. I don't think sehwag had any noticeable front foot stride while playing spin, and yet he was incredible against spinner. And sehwag is a short man too.

False. Sehwag had a very big front foot stride against spinners. In fact his footwork in general vs spin was phenomenal in how decisive it was. Total opposite to his footwork against pacers.

 

[Diffusion]

Sehwag couldn't have scored all those runs without having a workable defense against spinners.

I didn't follow the intricacies of cricket so closely during that time so can't comment much on that.

As far as I remember, he bludgeoned them into giving him a single. He was mental to be fair, I've never seen anyone play spin bowling with such contempt and disrespect - even Warne and Murali.

 

[JaDed]

This is sad considering what does he do in nets against Jadeja ,Jayant or Ash?Will be dropped if he doesn't get a decent score this series.

 

[The_Odd_One]

Yes, he's struggling with picking the length. He just does not know whether to play it on the front foot or back foot. I think with a minor adjustment, he can easily overcome this problem. Bairstow had a similar problem facing Yasir but he adjusted his technique after Lord's test and he was fine after that.

 

[Cricfan4eva]

This is sad considering what does he do in nets against Jadeja ,Jayant or Ash?Will be dropped if he doesn't get a decent score this series.

Drop!? He scored twin tons on a turner against SA attack when others didnt score much. You don't just drop players for failing in 4-5 tests especially with his proven record in away conditions as well. And who would you pick? No-Hit Sharma?

Like someone mentioned above that Rahane isn't assured in his defence, so its intent rather than technique that is the issue here. A slight change in his game and he'll be back to scoring runs. He's been scoring tons of runs on Mumbai pitches at domestic level, so I don't think that he doesn't have problems facing spinners.

 

[RamLakhan]

Personally I want him to open in tests aswell because of 2 reasons.. 1) He likes ball coming on to the bat and 2) I think once he's set he'll play the spinners more confidently

Yes, if Rahane and Rahul open the innings in all formats that will get rid of Rohit & Dhawan and we will find settled openers (whenever we had settled openers like Sehwag & Gambhir in the past we will more matches consistently)

 

[JaDed]

Drop!? He scored twin tons on a turner against SA attack when others didnt score much. You don't just drop players for failing in 4-5 tests especially with his proven record in away conditions as well. And who would you pick? No-Hit Sharma?

Like someone mentioned above that Rahane isn't assured in his defence, so its intent rather than technique that is the issue here. A slight change in his game and he'll be back to scoring runs. He's been scoring tons of runs on Mumbai pitches at domestic level, so I don't think that he doesn't have problems facing spinners.

Drop as in like Mohinder Amarnath style picked for away dropped after home series.

 

[Sin Nombre]

I would drop Vijay before Rahane if we are going to go about dropping players in knee jerk fashion.

 

[Cricfan4eva]

Drop as in like Mohinder Amarnath style picked for away dropped after home series.

But like I said just 5 tests ago on home conditions he scored 2 centuries on a pitch where other batsmen couldnt even post decent scores.

And its not like we have some solid bat sitting out.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Drop!? He scored twin tons on a turner against SA attack when others didnt score much. You don't just drop players for failing in 4-5 tests especially with his proven record in away conditions as well. And who would you pick? No-Hit Sharma?

Like someone mentioned above that Rahane isn't assured in his defence, so its intent rather than technique that is the issue here. A slight change in his game and he'll be back to scoring runs. He's been scoring tons of runs on Mumbai pitches at domestic level, so I don't think that he doesn't have problems facing spinners.

Some myths need to be busted.

He did NOT score those 100s on a turner.

First 100 was on a good pitch with some life in it for pacers. Yes, he played spin well but it wasn't any dangerous spin.
2nd 100 was on a pitch that had eased out BIG TIME.

That pitch was where the SA blockathon happened. Day 5 for most part, the ball hardly turned. Then Jaddu took 2 wickets through his accuracy and getting the rare ball to turn and Umesh's reverse swing tilted the game on our side. Ashwin got one to leap up from the pitch and spin big (rare ball) which got ABD out. Morkel left a ball which he expected to spin but went straight on.

In the 2nd innings, we were 267/5....so not like no one else scored.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

As far as I remember, he bludgeoned them into giving him a single. He was mental to be fair, I've never seen anyone play spin bowling with such contempt and disrespect - even Warne and Murali.

That's true aggression.

To manipulate fields and take singles at will. That's how you score against spin in general but Sehwag could smash it too.

A freak of nature. But treated spinners a bit too contemptuously so got out to them a lot of times in the latter part of his career.

 

[Cricfan4eva]

Some myths need to be busted.

He did NOT score those 100s on a turner.

First 100 was on a good pitch with some life in it for pacers. Yes, he played spin well but it wasn't any dangerous spin.
2nd 100 was on a pitch that had eased out BIG TIME.

That pitch was where the SA blockathon happened. Day 5 for most part, the ball hardly turned. Then Jaddu took 2 wickets through his accuracy and getting the rare ball to turn and Umesh's reverse swing tilted the game on our side. Ashwin got one to leap up from the pitch and spin big (rare ball) which got ABD out. Morkel left a ball which he expected to spin but went straight on.

In the 2nd innings, we were 267/5....so not like no one else scored.

Who gets to decide what's a turner, it wasn't a dustbowl where every ball turned but it did aide spinners more than pacers. India spinners took 14 of the 20 wickets. SA spinners were useless and Indians ended up giving away their wickets to pacers.

If you're going to dissect an innings like that, well then a lot of centuries are nothing to write home about, the fact is he did score on a pitch in which only Kohli and Ashwin scored one 50+ (now I know the cliched retort to this that stats don't tell the whole story) but you can downplay his innings all you want and make it seem like the pitch was a breeze to bat on while Rahane came in to bat. I watched the match as well and I felt those 2 knocks were brilliant.

I do agree there is an issue with his game sure but its not technical imo, more to do with his temperament and its not reached to a point where calls for his axing can be justified. He's too valuable a player for our next round of away series and he deserves a longer rope.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Who gets to decide what's a turner, it wasn't a dustbowl where every ball turned but it did aide spinners more than pacers. India spinners took 14 of the 20 wickets. SA spinners were useless and Indians ended up giving away their wickets to pacers.

If you're going to dissect an innings like that, well then a lot of centuries are nothing to write home about, the fact is he did score on a pitch in which only Kohli and Ashwin scored one 50+ (now I know the cliched retort to this that stats don't tell the whole story) but you can downplay his innings all you want and make it seem like the pitch was a breeze to bat on while Rahane came in to bat. I watched the match as well and I felt those 2 knocks were brilliant.

I do agree there is an issue with his game sure but its not technical imo, more to do with his temperament and its not reached to a point where calls for his axing can be justified. He's too valuable a player for our next round of away series and he deserves a longer rope.

So Indian spinners takes wickets means its a turner?

Watch the match replay (try to find somewhere online) and you will see what kind of pitch it was. SA simply imploded in first innings for no reason and did a great blockathon in 2nd.

Murali Vijay scored 146 on a Trent Bridge pitch against Anderson. So can we say he scored a crazy century against English pacers on a Trent Bridge pitch that usually aids seamers (well...historically maybe....that game not really - that knock was great but that narrative about conditions would be over the top).

If you're going to dissect an innings like that, well then a lot of centuries are nothing to write home about, the fact is he did score on a pitch in which only Kohli and Ashwin scored one 50+ (now I know the cliched retort to this that stats don't tell the whole story) but you can downplay his innings all you want and make it seem like the pitch was a breeze to bat on while Rahane came in to bat. I watched the match as well and I felt those 2 knocks were brilliant.

No one is downplaying Rahane's 100s there. Those were fantastic 100s. Just not on turners. The first 100 was scored when SA pacers were getting purchase and Indians were struggling.

Rahane's issue is against spin. Not about his game on tough pitches cos he is a true son of a gun in all pitches except turners. Now he is struggling even against slow spin flattish tracks cos he is unable to pick Rashid's googly and length.

If you're going to dissect an innings like that, well then a lot of centuries are nothing to write home about,

Not really. If you dissect other batsmen, things will be scattered. For Rahane, the trends are clear. When it turns proper, he won't score.

The only pitch he scored was in SL where he scored 125 in 3rd innings and we Indians destroyed SL in the 4th. 2nd test match. Apart from that, he does not have a good knock on a turner in his entire career. Turner does not mean rank turner...just a good turner. In Bangladesh he scored runs but the pitch wasn't doing lots to be honest.

I do agree there is an issue with his game sure but its not technical imo, more to do with his temperament and its not reached to a point where calls for his axing can be justified. He's too valuable a player for our next round of away series and he deserves a longer rope.

Its not about temperament. Those are all Ravi Shastri cliches bro.

Maybe he can do well with some adjustments...sure.

But it IS a technical issue. He is not picking length, not getting in front forward enough even when he determines a ball to be played on front foot. When it doesn't turn much, the ball won't take the edge. When it turns, it will.

This issue has been ongoing for YEARS. Maybe not so much noticeable but years really if you check various posts by other posters here.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

I don't think any Indian would want Rahane dropped for good.

Maybe a small break can do him a lot of good.

If that won't be done, then he has to work on his spin game big time before the next test.

He hasn't corrected his mistakes and keeps making them for years now.

 

[Saj]

I respect your knowledge, but by no means that was excellent ball , it was normal googly.

I thought it was a beautifully disguised googly.

Rashid doesn't bowl many googlies and perhaps that's why Rahane didn't pick it.

 

[troodon]

I don't think any Indian would want Rahane dropped for good.

Maybe a small break can do him a lot of good.

If that won't be done, then he has to work on his spin game big time before the next test.

He hasn't corrected his mistakes and keeps making them for years now.

The success of Rahane overseas is due to him being very good against pace and moving ball. His technique against spin ordinary. He neither gets forward nor backwards and seem to be in 2 minds many times.

The spin weakness will be exploited by opposing teams from now on. He needs to come up with an answer. Otherwise, he will be dropped soon. He is a hard worker. Hopefully he will fix that issue.

 

[The_Odd_One]

India can afford to play Rahane in India even if he fails consistently because the rest including Pujara and Ashwin are pretty good in these conditions. Rahane's lack of runs in India won't really hurt team much. However, his runs overseas are very critical to India's success.

 

[Bilal7]

He's this generation's VVS in that he'll succeed where the rest of his team fails but will fail where everyone else succeeds. Pujara is the Dravid and Kohli is the Sachin so it's only fitting.

 

[Ab Fan]

I think Rahane should open the batting in tests in Asia.He is susceptible against spin when he comes to bat in. However, he is very good against moving ball.

Think the upcoming series in England will be a make or break for Rahane in test cricket. He isn't becoming a Rahul Dravd, that looks sure but can he even have a great test career over a longer time?

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Rahane is very flawed.

Cant play odi or t20.
Cant play spin in india tests.

Overseas test specialist.

Sad because he looks like such a nice guy.

Pujara is another flawed batsman but he is a GOAT material on asian conditions.

 

[Sidilicious]

Rahane is very flawed.

Cant play odi or t20.
Cant play spin in india tests.

Overseas test specialist.

Sad because he looks like such a nice guy.

Pujara is another flawed batsman but he is a GOAT material on asian conditions.

The answer is simple. Play Pujara in Asia, Rahane outside it. Play then at 3. Just find another no.5.

 

[Ab Fan]

Rahane is very flawed.

Cant play odi or t20.
Cant play spin in india tests.

Overseas test specialist.

Sad because he looks like such a nice guy.

Pujara is another flawed batsman but he is a GOAT material on asian conditions.

There was a time when we felt like Rahane being equally effective as Kohli is or even par with him in test cricket and now if you look at both, there is pretty much a huge gap.

Rahane has batted like a tail-ender everywhere in Asia. It is hard to imagine how would he have done in the Murali/Warne era or even against other good spinners of that era.

Do you think he should be operated as opener in Asia now that Vijay doesn't have much left in the stock? He generally does well after he settles in but is highly vulnerable up front vs spin as he is a poor starter.

 

[Hasan123]

I can't believe how vulnerable he is to spin. But against seam and swing he is very good. Such a nice guy as well.

 

[The_Odd_One]

Looks as timid as Asad Shafiq and probably the worst player of spin from top teams. I won't be surprised if Rahul replaces him for the England tests.

 

[RamLakhan]

There was a time when we felt like Rahane being equally effective as Kohli is or even par with him in test cricket and now if you look at both, there is pretty much a huge gap.

Rahane has batted like a tail-ender everywhere in Asia. It is hard to imagine how would he have done in the Murali/Warne era or even against other good spinners of that era.

Do you think he should be operated as opener in Asia now that Vijay doesn't have much left in the stock? He generally does well after he settles in but is highly vulnerable up front vs spin as he is a poor starter.

I have always suggested that Rahane should be given a chance as opener in Test Matches (even outside Asia). He has to live up to that expectation of best player against PACE. If he is so good, then he should handle the opener job, because the other openers are anyhow vulnerable at the moment for various reasons (Murali - aging, Dhawan - LOI beast which is giving him chance in Tests, Rahul - struggling to cement place or rather temperament issues). This is the only way he can rectify his issues with spin, because even outside Asia he will be targeted using the lone spinner in their side (he has been that bad against spin at the moment! He can get out even against a rookie/part-timer spinner on super-flat/seaming pitch! Such low has been his confidence!) As opener he can at least get his eyes in before spinner comes up (I don't think Test sides will go so innovative/aggressive to open with spinner!) Over the time he can overcome that weakness against the spin (this will also serve the purpose of the team which is lacking a reliable opener at the moment!) He has opened in LOIs several time, so I don't think he will find much difficulty opening in test matches (compared to his struggle against spin this is much better option for him!), only thing is he has to make up his mind completely to suit this new role, take it as a new challenge!

 

[RamLakhan]

The answer is simple. Play Pujara in Asia, Rahane outside it. Play then at 3. Just find another no.5.

For some reasons this concept is not employed for batsmen, as its done with bowlers. Usually 1 to 3 bowlers will be changed based on conditions without any issues. But with batsmen it becomes an issue of ego if they are dropped/picked as specialists based on conditions! This is something similar to Male/Female discrepancies in the society! I think the time has come for the team-management to pick "batsmen based on conditions", as they do with bowlers "based on conditions" and even "batsmen/bowler based on format"! Even for No.5 we can have specialists (Nair at home and Rahul outside)

 

[RamLakhan]

Rahane is very flawed.

Cant play odi or t20.
Cant play spin in india tests.

Overseas test specialist.

Sad because he looks like such a nice guy.

Pujara is another flawed batsman but he is a GOAT material on asian conditions.

How good it will be if God blends these guys together and gives us a hybrid product

 

[Joseph Gomes]

How good it will be if God blends these guys together and gives us a hybrid product

The hybird would still be crap in ODIs and T20s.

 

[Sidilicious]

How good it will be if God blends these guys together and gives us a hybrid product

That hybrid is called Rayudu

 

[Savage]

The hybird would still be crap in ODIs and T20s.

LOL This.

I think BCCI should not allow Rahane to retire from ODI/T20s.They should permanently ban him for his service (rather disservice) towards Indian Limited overs team.That way players like Pujara would think twice before sharing their Nightmarish idea of him playing WC for India.

 

[RamLakhan]

The hybird would still be crap in ODIs and T20s.

I said only for Tests. For ODIs we want hybrid of Dhawan/Rohit/Rahul into two (three players into two openers!)

 

[cricketworm]

He should handle Root the best offie for England in playing Xi well.