IND vs AUS: India vs Australia – WTC Finals – Ever since the announcement of the Indian squad for the WTC Finals, the biggest talk of the town has been the return of Ajinkya Rahane. After spending an exile for over an year, Rahane revived his career by playing a scintillating IPL 2023 season where he and Chennai Super Kings emerged as the Champions. India head coach Rahul Dravid backed Rahane’s selection claiming that the batter has proven himself to perform well in overseas.
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It was no surprise that Rahane would be the perfect choice in the Indian lower batting order for quite a few reasons. Shreyas Iyer’s injury paved the way for a spot in the team. Suryakumar’s poor ODI form and Hardik Pandya’s not inclusion in the Test squad made this easier for the veteran batter. And to top it all, a stunning IPL season made it easy for the BCCI selectors to choose Rahane.
Just 2 days ahead of the much anticipated WTC Finals against Australia, India team head coach Rahul Dravid backed Rahane for his inclusion in the squad.
“I think firstly it’s good to have him. We’ve had a few injuries which have probably led to him having the opportunity to come back into the squad. Great for us to have someone of his quality back. He brings obviously a lot of that experience, he brings proven performance in overseas conditions. Even in England he’s played some terrific innings for us. He brings terrific catching in the slips as well to the group. He just brings his personality to the group as well which is really important. He’s led the team to considerable success. So yeah, it’s just great to have someone like him around here,” said Dravid.
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When questioned that if Rahane’s selection is only for just a one-off Test match, Dravid cleared the air saying they are taking a game at a time. And there is no doubt he will continue playing red ball cricket if he continues putting up good performances.
“I wouldn’t want him to approach this as just a one-off. Sometimes you get dropped from teams and you make a comeback and you come back and you can play for as long as you’re playing well and as long as you’re performing. It’s not written in stone or rule that you only get one match. He puts in a good performance, really shows what he’s got. Who knows, even when people come back from injury, you never know what can happen. So again, from my point of view, it’s not really only about this match. Yes, this match is important but then in the larger context of things there’s a lot of cricket to be played further down the road as well,” Dravid concluded.
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