'There was not the kind of commitment you see in Virat Kohli' - Sanjay Manjrekar delves into Ajinkya Rahane's mode of dismissal in the WTC final

All the hopes were firmly pinned on vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane after skipper Virat Kohli departed for 44 on the second day of the World Test Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand. Rahane’s solid overseas record and his compact technique gave fans hopes that he will lead India to a good score.

Things seemed to be going great before he pulled a ball from Neil Wagner straight into the hands of Tom Latham. The right-hand batter was dismissed one short of his half-century and the belief of India posting 300 diminished. Cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar spoke about Rahane’s dismissal and felt there is a pattern to his dismissals.

Manjrekar felt the Indian vice-captain scores a hundred and then keeps getting out for low scores. The former India batter also felt that he is not converting his start into something big.

While speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Manjrekar said, “It’s just the same Rahane that we have been seeing for the last many years, barring one or two innings like that hundred against Australia in the Test that India won. After that, he had a drop of form. It is interesting because, after a hundred, your form generally takes off, you feel more confident. But he has got a string of low scores. I think he really applied himself, so credit to him for just going through the grind.”

I’ve always associated his dismissals with his state of mind: Sanjay Manjrekar

Rahane last scored a match-winning hundred Down Under in the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. But later he endured a dip in form in the home series against England, where he failed to score even a single fifty. Manjrekar feels it is more of a mental thing with Rahane not cashing in on the century and putting good scores in the next matches.

“The thing about Rahane is that there is not one particular mode of dismissal for him in the last few years when he has got low scores. So, I have always associated his dismissals and low scores with his state of mind,” he added.

Manjrekar also said there was a lot of tentativeness in the dismissal of Rahane. “As for the pull shot on which he got out, there was a lot of tentativeness and not the kind of commitment you see in Virat Kohli, or Rohit Sharma, or Shubman Gill or Rishabh Pant. The kind of commitment they have in their attacking shots,” he concluded.