One or two bad games don’t make India a bad team, feels Ajinkya Rahane

Rahane’s batting performance also came under the scanner along with India’s dismal show in the Test series in New Zealand recently. While the team lost 0-2, thanks to some forgettable shows with the bat, Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane’s ordinary outings were slammed by former cricketers like Sandeep Patil who said a security guard could also do the job of occupying the crease if that was the sole purpose of batting.

Rahan, who scored 91 runs in four innings at an average of less than 22, however, refused to agree that one or two bad games didn’t make India a bad team and put the blame on the wind factor for the loss against the Kiwis. He insisted that the Indian batsmen are not bad players of short ball and rubbished the criticism that came over that.

“People are speaking too much about it (short balls). If you see Melbourne innings, we have dominated. We all play short-balls well, one game doesn’t make you bad players of short ball,” the 31-year-old told reporters.

“They (NZ bowlers) used the breeze factor very well because in New Zealand it was the biggest factor, cutting the angle and pace. We have to stay focussed and positive and the next series is in Australia and there is a long way to go, looking forward to that.

“We have really done a good job in the last three-four years. Now Test Championship has started. In this journey, you are going to win and lose some matches,” he added.

Ajinkya Rahane not too worried with his own form either

Like Rahane, some of India’s top batsmen like captain Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara failed to deliver with the bat on New Zealand soil. Rahane, however, said that he was not overtly worried with his own form.

“I am not too much worried about that and I am not going too much deep in that. Test Championship is all about one match and one series at a time, one match at a time because points are involved because one bad game or two bad games will not make us bad team,” he added.

Patil said recently that Rahane, who is now dubbed as a Test player only, is trying to prove a point by occupying the crease for a long time and he said it was more out of fear to prove his worth that Rahane batted so slowly in New Zealand. In the second innings of the second Test in Christchurch, the Mumbai batsman took 43 balls for his nine runs which did not help his team’s cause.