Former India great misses Ajinkya Rahane following India’s collapse in first innings of Centurion Test 2023

Ajinkya Rahane’s presence was missed by the former Indian cricketer during the side’s collapse in the first innings of the Centurion Test. The Indian team was reduced to 121/6 at one stage in the innings and it seemed as if the batters were walking back to the pavilion one by one after facing exceptional bowling from South African bowlers like Kagiso Rabada and Nandre Burger.

Many experts considered that the pitch at Centurion was a nightmare for batters. The pitch had uneven bounce and the batters were not easy in defending and leaving the ball. Speaking about the same, Sunil Gavaskar was of the opinion that the Indian batting was able to flourish under such conditions in the past and took the example of Ajinkya Rahane’s knock in 2018.

The former Indian great remembered the knock of Rahane in the Johannesburg Test in 2018 where the wicket had an uneven bounce and the batters struggled to score runs. “People have been talking about the pitch in the Johannesburg Test five years back and I was there. Yeah, it wasn’t the easiest of pitches to bat on the oddball was climbing up,” Gavaskar was quoted as saying by Livemint.

He showed what the Indian team had missed – Sunil Gavaskar

The former Indian cricketer added that India committed the same mistake they did in the 2017/18 tour. Even in that tour, Rahane was not picked in the first two Test matches of the series. The former Indian opener pointed out the same and added that the Indian team missed Ajinkya Rahane in the first two Tests of 2018. He compared it with the ongoing Centurion Test and felt that things could have been different if Rahane was in the XI.

“Ajinkya Rahane, who had not been picked for the first two Test matches, was picked for that game and he showed what the Indian team had missed because earlier on in the first couple of Test matches India did not lose by big margins,” added Gavaskar. India ended the first day of the Centurion Test with a score of 208/8. KL Rahul and Mohammad Siraj are in the middle.