IPL 2019: Ajinkya Rahane not thinking about No. 4 spot in Team India

India’s failure to find a suitable player for the number four spot means several players have entered the race for that spot ahead of the World Cup. Ajinkya Rahane, India’s forgotten man in the limited-overs formats, is one of the several players in contention to end the team’s number four woes. A couple of months ago, it had looked like the team had found a good player in Ambati Rayudu. However, he failed to live up to the promises and his performance in the recently-concluded series against Australia has made the team-management look out for other options.

After some indifferent outings in Australia and New Zealand, Rayudu had the chance of returning to his best form against Australia at home. He, however, failed in all the three games. The team-management then made it clear that Rayudu is yet to cement that spot by dropping him and trying out skipper Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant at that position but that too without much success. Unsurprisingly, Rahane, who had batted at number four for India in the last World Cup, has entered the contention to get a recall for the World Cup.

A good performance for Rajasthan Royals in the upcoming Indian Premier League will surely boost his chances. However, the Royals’ skipper is not willing to put pressure on himself by thinking too much about it. Rahane, who played last of his 90 ODIs during the South Africa tour last year, also said that he is ready to bat at any position.

“I have never had complaints about my batting order and have performed anywhere I have batted. I don’t want to put any pressure on myself by thinking about the No 4 spot in the Indian team. I understand that batting order depends on lot of things. For India, I am ready to bat at any position,” Rahane said during a media conference organised by Royals.

Happy with Smith’s return:

Rahane soon turned his focus on the job in his hand, which is leading the Royals. The Mumbai star expressed his delight over having Steve Smith back in the team. The former Australia skipper had missed the last edition in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal.

“It’s good to have him (Smith) back as a Rajasthan Royals player. He is a quality player and it’s always good to have him in your team. Also to pick his mind will be very important. We all know his ability to win matches,” Rahane said.

Royals had made it to the playoffs last season which was their comeback season following the two-year suspension. They will start their campaign this year against Kings XI Punjab on March 25.

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