Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly believes Indian Test captain Ajinkya Rahane deserves the middle-order spot in both Test and ODI.
The right-handed Indian batsman Rahane had been not selected in the limited-overs series of the ongoing UK tour. However, the Test vice-captain has continued his spot in the longer international cricket format as he is featuring in the ongoing five-match Test series in England.
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Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly believes that Indian cricket team needs Rahane in the middle-order batting in both Test and ODI cricket. Ganguly further believes that the unnecessarily dropped from the squad could have hurt Rahane’s confidence.
According to the Hindustan Times, the former Indian skipper said, “I have no doubt that India needs Rahane in the middle-order in both Tests and ODIs. Being dropped after doing well in the shorter-format could have hurt his confidence. Rahane seems like someone who is a big confidence player and this is where Kohli’s role becomes important. He needs to put his arms around Rahane’s shoulder and give him that boost. In the past generation, most of the top players played both formats for India – Tests and ODIs. If after so many years, the team management still hasn’t been able to show him that confidence and faith, then that needs to be worked on immediately.”
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Meanwhile, Ganguly has also defended the Indian Test specialist top-order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara, who has been criticised for batting too slow. In Test cricket, Ganguly believes the scoring runs should be counted rather than the scoring rate.
Ganguly said, “What are we talking about? Test matches are ending in three-and-a-half and four days. What is this talk of the scoring rate? Pujara needs to be left alone. People must stop talking about his scoring rate. No, Rahul Dravid’s scoring rate or the number of balls he let go coming in at No.3 never bothered anybody and that is how it should be. Scoring runs is what should count, not the rate.”
