My issue with Rahane the captain is…’, Sanjay Manjrekar questions ‘batsman Rahane’ after Chepauk failure

Ajinkya Rahane drew many plaudits from the who’s who of the cricketing universe after leading the Indian team to a 2-1 series triumph against Australia Down Under. Many even asked for Rahane to made the captain of the team in the longest format but it’s his form with the bat that has got people worried.

After the India vice-captain was dismissed by James Anderson for a duck in the second innings of the Chennai Test, Sanjay Manjrekar was among those who rose questions on Twitter. Despite his low scores recently, India captain Virat Kohli labelled him as the ‘most important’ player of the side when he was asked the question about Rahane’s form at the press conference.

“My issue with Rahane the captain is Rahane the batsman. After that 100 in Melbourne his scores are – 27*, 22, 4,  37, 24, 1 & 0.  After a 100, class players carry their form & carry the burden of players out of form,” tweeted Manjrekar.

“Ajinkya Rahane is, I have said this many times in the past as well, along with Cheteshwar Pujara is our most important Test batsman and he is going to continue to be. We believe in his abilities, we have believed in his abilities for a long time now. He is an impact player,” Kohli told the press on Tuesday.

“In the MCG Test, he stood up and scored a hundred for his team when we wanted it the most. You can look at the number of innings and what happens from there on, the reality of the situation is we won the series in Australia,” Kohli added.