India batter Ajinkya Rahane has been sidelined from the Test team with youngsters taking his place. He last played for the team in the Test series against West Indies and his poor outings in the Caribbean saw him getting dropped from the team once again.
Ajinkya Rahane was dropped from the team after the 2022 South Africa tour. However, after that he made decent contributions in domestic cricket and made a return to the team for the ICC World Test Championship Final, where he played a sensational knock and kept India in the game.
Ajinkya Rahane was part of the team for the West Indies tour but he failed there. With Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul returning from their injuries, the batter was dropped from the team and didn’t get a place in the South Africa series.
Recently Ajinkya Rahane made a big statement, saying that he wants to make a comeback in the Indian team. He said that his goal is to play 100 Tests for India and was also hopeful for doing well for the team in the ongoing Ranji Trophy.
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However, he is having a torrid season in the Ranji Trophy. He was dropped from the team for the match against Bihar. He made a comeback into the team for the next game against Andhra Pradesh but it wasn’t a fruitful outing for him.
It was expected that he would make a strong comeback in the second game. But things got even worse for them as he bagged another golden duck in the next match against Kerela. The batter would be low on confidence, having been on the back of two golden ducks.
With him wanting to make a comeback into the Test team, it won’t be an easy path away for him now, especially after bagging two ducks. It remains to be seen how he will fare in the upcoming Ranji Trophy games.
Ajinkya Rahane stats for India in Tests
Ajinkya Rahane has been an incredible servant for India in Test cricket. However, in the last few years his numbers have dropped drastically, which has been the main reason why he was dropped from the Indian team in the longest format of the game.
Overall, Ajinkya Rahane has played 85 Tests for India and has scored 5077 runs at an average of over 38. The batter also has slammed 12 centuries and 26 half-centuries. If he wants to make a comeback to the Indian team, he needs to have a sensational Ranji Trophy season.