Former Indian batter Ajinkya Rahane shared his fear for Test cricket in the country, having recently announced his retirement from all forms of the game as well. He also slammed the current Indian Test team’s policy of prioritizing youngsters over senior players. However, Rahane was an important part of India’s dream run in red-ball cricket in the second half of the 2010s. He played a huge role in the side’s back-to-back Test series wins in Australia in 2018/19 and 2020/21 as well.
Talking about the future of Indian Test cricket on ‘The Overlap Cricket’ YouTube channel, Rahane said, “Test cricket fans are proper cricket lovers. New players have come in over the last two years in Tests. I still feel Test cricket needs seven to eight senior cricketers and two to three younger players. But what we are seeing now is that all the players are actually new.”
“There are hardly any senior players left. Test cricket needs them. You need to respect the senior players. I fear for the future of Test cricket. Especially the Indian team; all the senior players going at once has been the issue,” he again added.
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However, Ajinkya Rahane called the match-winning century in the second Test of the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Melbourne his best moment in the Indian jersey. Trailing 0-1 in the best-of-four series, Rahane took over as captain after Virat Kohli left for the birth of his first child. On a challenging wicket, he scored 112 off 223 deliveries to help India capture a 131-run first-innings lead.
“It was the top moment of my career, along with the century at Lord’s in 2014. When the match was going on, it was typical Australians. They were sledging all the time. Without Virat Kohli and Shami injured, they thought they were all over us. I tried very hard to be in the moment, though it was very tough. But when I got the hundred, everyone came up to me and acknowledged it,” he stated.
“I didn’t respond at all to their sledging. I remember the first session, they went hard at me. It was typical Australians; they like to target the captains of the opposition teams. Once the captain crumbles, they know the team will crumble under pressure. They tried very hard, but I had my methods, and it was my fourth or fifth tour of Australia,” he concluded.
