Is Ajinkya Rahane currently the best Test batsman outside Asia from the subcontinent?

[giri26]

Ajinkya Rahane has played 16 of his 25 tests outside Asia. He has already played in England, SA, Australia, NZ and WI and except for England he has done extremely well outside Asia. Even in England he started well but fell off later in the series.

In 29 innings outside Asia he has 1312 runs at an average of 54.66 with 4 hundreds.

His averages in those countries

England - 33.22
NZ - 54
SA - 69.66
WI - 121.50
Aus - 57

You have to remember though that he played in all those countries for the first time. It was not a return tour for him in any of those countries. My question is only among current players, please don't bring retired stars into this discussion.

 

[Ab Fan]

He did better than his numbers in England. That century at Lords was absolute brilliance from him.

 

[giri26]

He did better than his numbers in England. That century at Lords was absolute brilliance from him.

Yup I agree, that hundred was the reason we won at Lords. That was one of the best innings by a young player on a difficult wicket.

 

[yasir_shah_fan]

On paper yes but Kohli has evolved has a player and is too good a player to have the average he has in England. Also he is much more dynamic.

When the situation demands it Rahane struggles to bat as free flowing as Kohli does who can bring his LOI dominance into the test arena, which is also the reason why one is an ATG in the shorter form and the other is pretty mediocre

 

[Ab Fan]

Yup I agree, that hundred was the reason we won at Lords. That was one of the best innings by a young player on a difficult wicket.

Btw it's good to see him scoring some soft runs too or else he would become another VVS. He is clearly the best < 30 age test batsmen from Asia.

 

[JibranAnsari]

Without a doubt , he has the ability to someday be at the top of the rankings. His ability to read swing is second to.nonce , I saw him batting against holder the other day when he was swinging the ball a lot. Though at gentle medium pace you can still see how he was tackling and reading the swing from the hand. A wonderful player.

 

[pakistani pride]

On paper yes but Kohli has evolved has a player and is too good a player to have the average he has in England. Also he is much more dynamic.

When the situation demands it Rahane struggles to bat as free flowing as Kohli does who can bring his LOI dominance into the test arena, which is also the reason why one is an ATG in the shorter form and the other is pretty mediocre

Kohli has a lot to prove in tests. He is way behind the likes of root kane and smith. He even is not the best in his own team.

Also he is not a no 3 test bat.

 

[Buffet]

Absolutely.

He has played some tough knocks in his short career which most batsmen don't play in their entire career.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

As I have said it so many times:

Rahane's only weakness is playing quality spin on proper spin tracks. He scores there but doesn't do it as well as he does in other kind of pitches.

If he sorts that out, he will soar very high.

He averages WAY ABOVE outside Asia than in Asia.

 

[giri26]

On paper yes but Kohli has evolved has a player and is too good a player to have the average he has in England. Also he is much more dynamic.

When the situation demands it Rahane struggles to bat as free flowing as Kohli does who can bring his LOI dominance into the test arena, which is also the reason why one is an ATG in the shorter form and the other is pretty mediocre

Rahane is better than Kohli in tests and he isn't a slow batter in tests either. Kohli still has lots to prove as a test batsman. He is very good but needs to improve on his consistency.

 

[leg-side-flick]

If Kohli continues to bat at 3, he will have a lot of catching up to do !!!

Right now I think Rahane and Vijay are ahead of Kohli in test matches ...

 

[Hasan123]

Fabulous player. One of the best away from home in the world

 

[Sandeep]

Rahane's been awesome so far. I also believe Asad Shafiq from Pakistan has the ability to perform well overseas apart from the usual suspects Kohli, Vijay, Chandimal, Mathews.

 

[IcedEarth]

Ajinkya Rahane has played 16 of his 25 tests outside Asia. He has already played in England, SA, Australia, NZ and WI and except for England he has done extremely well outside Asia. Even in England he started well but fell off later in the series.

In 29 innings outside Asia he has 1312 runs at an average of 54.66 with 4 hundreds.

His averages in those countries

England - 33.22
NZ - 54
SA - 69.66
WI - 121.50
Aus - 57

You have to remember though that he played in all those countries for the first time. It was not a return tour for him in any of those countries. My question is only among current players, please don't bring retired stars into this discussion.

WI is more like SC.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...6;team=7;team=8;template=results;type=batting

So Kohli is at top, then Rahane, Younis Khan and Chandimal. All average over 40.

 

[geraltofrivia]

WI is more like SC.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...6;team=7;team=8;template=results;type=batting

So Kohli is at top, then Rahane, Younis Khan and Chandimal. All average over 40.

Tbh WI pitches have pace and bounce in them.

 

[The_Odd_One]

Yes, he is.

 

[street cricketer]

On paper yes but Kohli has evolved has a player and is too good a player to have the average he has in England. Also he is much more dynamic.

When the situation demands it Rahane struggles to bat as free flowing as Kohli does who can bring his LOI dominance into the test arena, which is also the reason why one is an ATG in the shorter form and the other is pretty mediocre

Watch Australia vs India, 3rd Test, Melbourne, post lunch session.

 

[Chromeuser]

Ajinkya Rahane is good Test player but he is too much inconsistent to be consider as the best Test batsman. He gets a 100 in one match and then goes missing in other matches of the tournament which is very irritating. Btw how many N.O.s he has compared to other batsmen in last 5 years?

 

[Sachin136]

Kohli has outperformed him by a large distance everywhere except in England.

 

[giri26]

Kohli has outperformed him by a large distance everywhere except in England.

Thats not true at all..Yeah Kohli averages higher but not by a large margin.

 

[EliteCynical]

As I have said it so many times:

Rahane's only weakness is playing quality spin on proper spin tracks. He scores there but doesn't do it as well as he does in other kind of pitches.

If he sorts that out, he will soar very high.

He averages WAY ABOVE outside Asia than in Asia.

Agreed. I am still not convinced with his spin playing abilities. I remember having a debat with you a while ago when i was on the other side of the table. I now firmly think he can be suspect against quality spinners.

Having said that, where are any quality spinners around? The only one going around is not going to play a match against us for a long long time.

Santner could spell trouble for Indians.

 

[Cricket World]

Kohli is best infact better than Sachin

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Agreed. I am still not convinced with his spin playing abilities. I remember having a debat with you a while ago when i was on the other side of the table. I now firmly think he can be suspect against quality spinners.

Having said that, where are any quality spinners around? The only one going around is not going to play a match against us for a long long time.

Santner could spell trouble for Indians.

Its not just quality spinners per se.

When it spins big, I feel Rahane doesn't get to the pitch of the ball which results in the edge. Maybe he just needs to do some adjustments and will do well but whenever the pitch turns big, I see Rahane making this mistake.

 

[Ted123]

Ajinkya Rahane home/away batting performance?

Tests:-

Avgs:- 43
At home :- 32
Away:- 52

Is there a bigger Away Track Bully in international cricket?

 

[cricketworm]

Honestly there is no such a thing as Away track bully. He has an amazing domestic record. There is no excuse that he shouldn't perform well at home. It's just matter of playing longer series in India and just matter of few daddy 100s away from getting that home average up.

 

[Proactive_]

Darren Bravo -

Home: 29
Away: 51
Neutral: 45

 

[Savage]

Darren Bravo -

Home: 29
Away: 51
Neutral: 45

But I doubt Bravo's away performance been better than Rahane.

Rahane is better batsmen overall of the two and also think difference between Home and away batting performance is more in case of Rahane.

 

[Rahul1]

It's such a mystery. The guy is like a Reverse Pujara.

 

[Dingolfy]

Honestly there is no such a thing as Away track bully. He has an amazing domestic record. There is no excuse that he shouldn't perform well at home. It's just matter of playing longer series in India and just matter of few daddy 100s away from getting that home average up.

But he appears to be struggling against spin even in LOIs.

 

[cricketworm]

But he appears to be struggling against spin even in LOIs.

Being a Mumbai boi, he def. prefers pace over spin, but you can't get away by playing pace only in domestic, he has faced top domestic spinners, scores tons of runs.

So, point is it's matter of some long continuous games in India, you will see his improvement. He can't hit 6's and 4's at will compare to IPL, being a technical sound batsman. India can afford to not having him in LOIs anyway. His spin struggle seems to be more mental than technical.

 

[Abdullah719]

Going through a rough patch these days.

 

[cricketjoshila]

Going through a rough patch these days.

More than that he hasnot got time to acclamatise.

And in conditions where Ishant Sharma gets 5 wickets......

 

[happydavy]

Going thru a bad patch is fine, can happen. Unfortunately he seems to be lacking any kind of intent, just going thru the motions and coming across as very very ordinary. When Sachin used to go thru a bad patch, he generally shifted to being agressive even in test matches. Get those 20-25 runs by taking a lil bit of risk and then hope things ll get better. He seemed to be a man without a plan.

 

[Gabbar Singh]

He hasn’t played much test cricket recently - played 11 tests in 2017 but then this year he’s played one test vs SA in Jan and one test in June vs Afghanistan. We don’t even know if he’s in form or out of form (he probably doesn’t know himself lol).

 

[The_Odd_One]

It is time to move on from his Lord's heroics. He has been easily India's worst test batsman in the last 2 years.

 

[silent ischemia]

It's Kohli now

 

[RamLakhan]

Pujara and Rahane slipping away like this has affected our Test Cricket like anything! (And Vijay & Rahul have also joined them now outside Asia!) Otherwise Kohli & bowlers would have brought lot of good fortunes to India in Tests!

 

[big_gamer007]

We never seem to have couple of played in purple patch, away from home we always go in with one form batsmen and rest playing like tailenders..

Minus a couple of memorable performances our away batting has always been like this..

Currently indian batting is one of the worst in the world.

 

[BlackShadow]

There are different ways to fail. The likes of Dhawan and Rohit fail in a hopeless manner. While the likes of Rahane and Rahul still give you hope (much like Babar Aazam).

I wouldn't be too harsh on Rahane yet. He was decent in outrageous South African conditions, while a lot of batsmen have failed in this Test too (from both sides). He stays a quality Test batsman for me.

 

[Ab Fan]

Calling Rahane a test specialist is insult to players who have excelled in all formats.

He averages a whooping 42 in tests thanks to a lot of WI bashing!

 

[ravisurya]

He has a grand total of zero 50s in his last 12 innings. He is way too over rated.

 

[troodon]

Overrated.

 

[Abdullah719]

Having serious doubts about this now... That 2014 tour of England is beginning to look like a

Spoiler

fluke.

 

[mak36]

Having serious doubts about this now... That 2014 tour of England is beginning to look like a

Spoiler

fluke.

Oh dear...

 

[The_Odd_One]

Sending him at one down will not transform him into Rahul Dravid, easily the worst Indian batsman. Dude, can’t even be a HTB.

 

[Pete Rose]

I watched highlight of India’s batting and the one thing that struck me was the contrast between how compact Pakistani batsmen played in England (sure it unravelled in our second game) vs India’s. The boundaries scored by Indian batsmen to full pitched deliveries were very authoritative but expansive. When playing the incoming delivery they were flicking or trying their flick it to the leg side.
When azhar and to a lesser extent shafiq play in these conditions they often miss out on leg side scoring opportunities and it would annoy me no end. But in retrospect it explains their relative success, the want to play straight and close to the body.
As I say this I should point out that azhar Ali was bowled or lbw quite a bit in England. But what can you do when those are the conditions. In between those dismissals out batmsen tightened their batting defense and played straight and denied themselves boundaries on the drive square of the wicket on both sides. Something to emmulate I would say

 

[Ted123]

Mediocre player..Should have been dropped long back.

 

[Varun]

Mediocre player..Should have been dropped long back.

Bad time to bump when he has scored a 101* in the most recent tour game ahead of the NZ tests.

Plus he averaged 71.33 in calendar year 2019.

 

[Ab Fan]

Decent test batsmen, could have been dropped if he hadn't got the backing of management after his continuous failures in both home and away series.

Scored some tough runs initially but has scored mostly soft runs since 2016.

 

[tyron_woodley]

solid player. Nor great but good.

 

[andy0204]

I wish he would have failed last year,so that he must be kicked out of squad.
He was a failure before that.
Now he will keep getting chances.
He is a vice captain,
Plus he is from Mumbai.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Rahane is very underrated. The innings he has regularly played abroad for India show his class.

 

[Hasan123]

A good support player. In the next 18 months India need to look at moving him out of the team as they have younger players with higher potential than Rahane.

 

[jeeteshssaxena]

On par with good batsmen like bell, collingwood, azhar ali but nothing more.

 

[Ab Fan]

Bad time to bump when he has scored a 101* in the most recent tour game ahead of the NZ tests.

Plus he averaged 71.33 in calendar year 2019.

I think even that 101* came after five scores of single digits by him. So, that explains how good is that.

 

[tyron_woodley]

On par with good batsmen like bell, collingwood, azhar ali but nothing more.

excellent comparison. He is exactly around bell's level. good player but not great .

 

[Raja111]

Not even a decent batsman. he's just a pretender and a mental midget. Single-handedly lost the Adelaide test. At one stage on 188-3 india were well on track to get 400 and then he ran his captain out. After that India only managed to score 92 runs and lost 16 wickets.

This guy's performance in overseas recently:

In England : 5 - matches, 10 - innings, 257 at 25
In Australia : 5 - matches , 10 - innings, 260 at 28
In Newz : 2 - matches, 4 - innings, 90 at 22

Now he's going to lead India in the next 3 game god save them!.

 

[Ab Fan]

Ajinkya Rahane | It is time to become a man.

Bhaijaan [MENTION=65183]freelance_cricketer[/MENTION]!

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Lmao...

Rahane has been totally useless at home.

Now also away.

Dude has declined big time.

Needs to do something special in Aus or his test career is over.

 

[Saurav]

Lmao...

Rahane has been totally useless at home.

Now also away.

Dude has declined big time.

Needs to do something special in Aus or his test career is over.

He's gonna captain. Which means his career is safe as he's 'senior player'

only youngsters like Pant Kuldeep get dropped

 

[Ab Fan]

Ajinkya Rahane | It is time to become a man.

Bhaijaan [MENTION=65183]freelance_cricketer[/MENTION]!

I was going to create a thread on this but missed out due to being stuck in some other work

 

[MP2011]

Has played and missed a lot, even dropped but credit to him, he has so far fought it out.

 

[MP2011]

Looking much more fluent in this innings than a lot of innings he played during last few years.