Ajinkya Rahane's Test Squad Return for WTC Final Based on Experience, Not IPL and Domestic Performances

Ajinkya Rahane’s return to the India Test squad for the World Test Championship final against Australia in June is nothing but a safe choice by the selectors for the title clash. Yes, Rahane has been on song in the ongoing Indian Premier League and did well for Mumbai in the 2022-23 domestic season, but it was the past experience of playing in those conditions that made him the frontrunner for the spot ever since Shreyas Iyer was ruled out due to a back injury.

Rahane featured in all three domestic competitions last season and did reasonably well too. The elegant right-hander didn’t score truckloads of runs but had decent performances across formats. In the seven Ranji Trophy fixtures he played, Rahane’s big scores came against Assam (191) and Hyderabad (204). While Assam wasn’t a force in red-ball this year, Hyderabad were outplayed by all teams and were relegated to the Plate group. Prior to the Ranji Trophy, Rahane scored 207 in the Duleep Trophy, but even that knock came against the NorthEast side. So 634 runs in 11 Ranji Trophy innings didn’t earn the recall or the spark shown in the yellow jersey for CSK. It was the experience of playing 14 Tests in England that worked in his favour.

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If not Rahane, then who?

A quick look and there are hardly any names that present a case to be included in the Test squad. There is a lot of chatter around Sarfaraz Khan for his mountain of runs in the Ranji Trophy, but performances at India A and struggle against quality attacks in the IPL are not very encouraging. Additionally, it would have been too big a risk to try the Mumbai batter out in the WTC final. If the management was keen on him, it should have ideally started with his inclusion in the Test series vs Bangladesh. The second-best bet Rajat Patidar, who has done well in the domestic circuit and is being groomed for the middle-order spot in ODIs too, is also down with a heel injury. Suryakumar Yadav, who was part of the Border Gavaskar Trophy squad, was again a risky choice in English conditions, and Ishan Kishan’s struggle against the moving ball rules him out of discussion too.

The KL Rahul dilemma

KL Rahul is undergoing one of the most difficult phases in his career. He lost the Test vice-captaincy, lost his opening spot to Shubman Gill, who scored a hundred in the Ahmedabad Test vs Australia, and is likely to be either the reserve opener or the middle-order option. Rahul averaged nearly 40 in the 2021-2022 away series against England, and the management hasn’t ruled him out of a Playing XI spot yet. Even when he was struggling in the BGT, captain Rohit Sharma continued to back him and did touch upon his hundreds outside India – against England in 2021 and South Africa in 2022.

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“How can KL Rahul be ruled out of a Playing XI spot? Yes, he was dropped for the last two Tests vs Australia but has done well in England, and his performances and experience of playing there will be taken into account. It will be up to the team management whether it will be the middle-order or opening, but he continues to be in the mix,” a senior BCCI official told News18 CricketNext.

It’s too early to say whether Rahul will be asked to keep wickets and lend more strength to the middle-order. He has been doing an effective job in the ODIs, but donning the gloves in moving conditions can test even the regulars. We saw how even Rishabh Pant struggled with the gloves during his first England tour. The late movement of the Duke ball can make wicketkeeping very difficult, and it will be a big risk not to go with a specialist.

No major surprises

From the Indian squad that featured against Australia in the Ahmedabad Test. Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, and Kuldeep Yadav have been dropped, while Shardul Thakur has been added as a seam-bowling all-rounder. Shardul was always in captain Rohit’s plans, and if India had won the Indore Test, there was a bright possibility of seeing the all-rounder in action on a green surface in Ahmedabad.

“The important one is Shardul Thakur because he comes into that plan for us. I don’t know how ready he is, knowing that he just got married. We don’t know how many overs he has bowled. But yeah, that thought process is definitely there. If we do what we do here and we get the result we want, we might think of doing something different in Ahmedabad for sure,” Rohit had said on the eve of the Indore Test.

The green plan in Ahmedabad didn’t materialize as India was outplayed in the Indore Test and had to either win or draw the Ahmedabad Test to qualify for the WTC final.

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Stable bowling attack

Apart from the inclusion of Shardul, there is no change in the bowling department, where the seam bowling duties will be shared between Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, and Jaydev Unadakat. R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel are the three spin options. While Shami and Siraj are sure starters, it will be interesting to see whether the management prefers Umesh’s pace or Thakur’s all-round abilities.

If The Oval doesn’t roll out a green carpet, both Ashwin and Jadeja are expected to start, as the two have made more than useful contributions with the bat lower down the order and will add a lot of stability to the batting. Something the management will be mindful of.

Squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.