Ajinkya Rahane unable to cash in on Ben Stokes' error of judgement

Rahane absolutely didn't need to poke at the delivery.

Published - 02 Aug 2018, 19:51 IST | Updated - 02 Aug 2018, 19:51 IST

2 Min Read

Ajinkya Rahane is deemed to be one of India’s better players in overseas conditions. India are currently playing the first of the five-match Test series against England in Birmingham and Rahane has a decent enough record in the country. Prior to the start of the match, the right-handed batsman played six Tests on English soil in which he scored 314 runs at an average of 34.88.

On the second day of the contest, he came to bat with India’s score at 59/3 in 15.5 overs. He started carefully without even thinking about taking an undue risk. Meanwhile, Lady Luck also showered its blessing on the Maharashtra-born cricketer as in the 24th over, he got away from getting dismissed. A full-length delivery from Ben Stokes struck Rahane on the pads.

Stokes gets rid of Rahane

The bowler appealed, however, Aleem Dar, the on-field umpire was disinterested. The speedster also didn’t resort to the Decision Review System (DRS). But later replay should that Rahane was a gonner as the delivery fulfilled all the criteria for the batsman to be adjudged out. Nevertheless, he couldn’t cash in on the opportunity and perished a couple of overs later to the same bowler.

In the fourth delivery of the 28th over, Rahane played a rather loose stroke. He went for a drive outside the off stump, but it was away from the body. Stokes bowled a short of a length delivery and Rahane absolutely didn’t need to poke at it.

However, he did and an outside edge off his willow traced into the hands of Keaton Jennings at third slip. He could only score 15 runs from 34 balls. From 50/0 in the 13th over, India slumped to 100/4 after 27.4 overs. It was also Stokes’ first wicket of the innings and also his 99th wicket in Test cricket.