London. India’s middle-order batsman Ajinkya Rahane is all set to make his Test debut for India after a long wait of 18 months and the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia is do-or-die for them starting June 7. As the situation may be. Rahane, who is transitioning from the T20 format to the five-day format, will want to keep things simple and will hope that the excellent timing with which he scored runs in the IPL will follow him in London as well. Rahane is almost certain to make it to India’s playing XI. Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara were dropped after the series loss to South Africa in early 2022.
Pujara had already made a comeback to the national team after performing brilliantly in county cricket. Rahane, who has played 82 Test matches so far, had to wait a long time to make a comeback to the national team. He made a comeback to the national team after performing well in the Ranji Trophy and more recently in the IPL. But if Shreyas Iyer was not injured then it would have been difficult for Rahane to make a comeback. Iyer has proved himself in the middle order and in such a situation, when Rahane comes to the crease at the Oval, it will be a do or die situation for him. Rahane will have to perform well to cement his place in the team for the series ahead.
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Under the captaincy of Rahane, India defeated Australia on its soil in 2021. Then he had impressed a lot with his farm and leadership skills. Rahane has been doing well against a strong team like Australia. It is a different matter that there has been a lack of consistency in his performances, due to which his Test average is 38.52. In the WTC final, Rahane will not have the pressure of captaincy and in such a situation, his focus will be on batting. He would like to give a befitting reply to the critics with his bat.
