5 Indian players for whom New Zealand home series could be the last chance to prove their worth

3. Ajinkya Rahane

Even sadly for Ajinkya Rahane, the upcoming home Test series against NZ will be a very essential endeavour. For the longest of times, his place in the Test squad has been in severe jeopardy merely because of his reasonable performances in the past two years. The cricketer had a very average tour of England wherein he amassed runs at a poor average of around 15.

Perhaps though the breakdown in the English tour vigorously demanded his axing, the 33-year old was still very much considered as a vital cog of the Test side. However, with the reports now suggesting Rohit Sharma to nearly be Virat Kohli’s new deputy in red-ball cricket, surely Rahane’s career is floating on thin ice.

Also since the upcoming South Africa tour will now kickstart team India’s new away SENA cycle, definitely the new team management will prefer grooming a youngster in place of Rahane if the veteran player continues to malfunction.

In fact with few players like Hanuma Vihari and Shubman Gill already being strongly fostered, one of them can easily dwell in the place of the Mumbai batter. Hence, the two Test matches against NZ will be the games where Rahane has to bat out of his skin.