Former India vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane has hit a new low after he was dismissed for a golden duck in the first innings of the Johannesburg Test. This is the first time in Rahane's Test career that he has been dismissed on the first ball he faced. The disappointment in the second Test could spell the end of the road for the 33-year-old batter as his bad patch continues in the Rainbow nation.
It was in the 24th over when a back-of-a-length delivery from Duanne Olivier, well outside the off stump was poked by Rahane, instead of shouldering arms. He poked at it without any feet movement and fed a thick outside edge to the third slip fielder Keegan Petersen completing the dismissal. Courtesy of Rahane’s wicket, Oliver was on a hat-trick having sent Cheteshwar Pujara back to the pavilion on the previous delivery.
This was the tenth time that the Mumbai-based player was dismissed without troubling the scorers in Test cricket. His last 34 innings don’t make great reading, he has scored 888 runs at an average of 26.90. The experienced campaigner went without a hundred in the entire 2021, his last ton in the longest format came at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in December 2020. He has also scored a mere four Test fifties in that period.
Former India and Mumbai player Sanjay Manjrekar backed the former vice-captain, but as things stand Rahane is quickly running out of time.
"The team management is backing Rahane. India have won the first Test, and Rahane scored 48 runs in the first innings as well. So he might get another shot. But they should also think about Vihari and Shreyas Iyer. The more chances Rahane gets, the fewer chances the other guys will have. So this needs to be discussed," Manjrekar told ESPNCricinfo.
Concerns would now be raised on whether the right-handed batter would be given any further opportunities. The likes of Hanuma Vihari and Shreyas Iyer are waiting in the wings to get their opportunities. Iyer scored a hundred on Test debut against New Zealand in the Kanpur Test in November while Vihari has been a seasoned campaigner in the domestic circuit.
The latter was also part of the ‘India A’ side which was on a tour of South Africa, prior to the senior team’s tour. Vihari is part of the second Test in place of injured Virat Kohli while Rahane waits for what could be his last chance with the team in the second innings of the Johannesburg Test.
