Virat Kohli’s Test deputy Ajinkya Rahane’s future as vice-captain in the longest format, along with senior pacer Ishant Sharma’s place, will be up for discussion when the national selectors pick the squad for the tour of South Africa.
India will play 3 Tests and as many ODIs while the 4 T20Is which were part of the schedule earlier will be played on a later date, the BCCI had said after its AGM on Sunday in Kolkata. India’s tour was scheduled to start on December 17 but it was postponed due to concerns over the new Omicron Covid variant which was discovered in the region.
There won’t be too many surprises in coach Rahul Dravid’s first overseas assignment as he is not someone who believes in rocking the boat, which means that Cheteshwar Pujara and Rahane are likely to be boarding the Johannesburg flight as of now.
Focus on Ajinkya Rahane’s place
With an extended run of poor form in recent times, Ajinkya Rahane’s place in the team has been under the scanner for a while. Rahane has scored just two half-centuries since scoring a century against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in December last year and his average has been in the mid-20s over the past 29 innings.
So far in 2021, Rahane averages 19.57 in 12 Tests. He is going through the worst phase in his career but this dip has been in the making for a few years. In 2017, he averaged a modest 34.62, followed by a less than ordinary 30.66 in 2018. However, Rahane finished 2019 with an average of 71.33 from 8 Tests.
However, Rahane will find it very difficult to keep his position as Kohli’s Test deputy as he no longer is an automatic choice in the playing XI. Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Hanuma Vihari are some of the middle-order choices to replace Rahane in the eleven.
Pant, Rohit and Bumrah set to return
Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul will return and look all but set to open the innings for India in the South Africa series. Wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant will also return to take the position of first-choice gloveman.
Ishant Sharma has gone off the boil since the tour of England and many people believe that the veteran of 105 Tests (311 wickets) should now be given a break, as Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah are likely to lead the pace attack, which also has Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.
