Ranji Trophy 2022: Ajinkya Rahane Ranji Trophy – Currently out of favour with the Indian cricket team, Ajinkya Rahane who slammed a stunning double century is aiming to make a comeback to the National team. Following his double hundred in Ranji Trophy, he went on to claim that despite his dip in form, he, Virat Kohli, and Cheteshwar Pujara boasts of having the average in red-ball cricket particularly due to the Indian pitches. Follow Ranji Trophy 2022 LIVE Updates on InsideSport.IN.
Ranji Trophy 2022: Ajinkya Rahane BLAMES poor pitch conditions for DIP in performances, says ‘Have same average as that of Virat Kohli & Pujara’ – Check Out
“There was no mistake (in his style of batting that his average dipped), we were playing in India for the last three years. If you look at the players who are batting at number three, four or five their average has come down because of the wickets. Pujji-Virat and my (Pujara, Kohli) averages have come down,” Rahane told Indian Express.
“I don’t think there were many mistakes; it’s not every time that we are committing the mistakes. Sometimes the wickets are such, this is no excuse but everyone saw the kind of wickets we had in India,” Rahane added.
Indian middle-order batter Ajinkya Rahane scored a double-century in Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy 2022-23 match against Hyderabad on Wednesday. The batter knocked 204 off 261 balls, consisting of 26 boundaries and three sixes. He played his knock at the strike rate of 78.16. Tanay Thyagarajan dismissed him.
Ranji Trophy 2022: Ajinkya Rahane BLAMES poor pitch conditions for DIP in performances, says ‘Have same average as that of Virat Kohli & Pujara’ – Check Out
Over the span of the last 3 years, Rahane played 17 Test matches for his country. He managed just one century and three fifties during this period. During 2020-21, he managed an average of 29.23 which went down to 19, the following season. In 2021-22 he could only manage an average of 21.87.
Both Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli have their decent stronghold in red-ball cricket. With Pujara only available in red-ball cricket, Kohli however, is doing good across all three formats. However, the door was shut for Rahane after his consistently poor performances. Now, no longer in BCCI’s plans, Rahane is set to be removed from the central contract.
“One thing is for sure, I will never give up. For me, the dream is to still play for India,” says Ajinkya Rahane.
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But the 34-year-old middle-order batter is keen to make a comeback to the National team. He has been toiling hard and his double century at the Ranji Trophy is proof of that. However, it remains unknown as to if BCCI would consider taking him back into their ranks.
“As a batsman it is always challenging especially if you are batting as a middle-order. For openers it’s easy. It’s because of a hard ball but when a batsman gets out, we tend to think where did we do wrong. I don’t want to prove anything but one thing is sure, I will never give up,” Rahane concluded.
