Ajinkya Rahane last 10 innings runs in Tests: Indian captain plays on to Kyle Jamieson delivery in Kanpur Test

Ajinkya Rahane last 10 innings runs: The Indian captain looked good in the middle before playing a false shot at the Green Park.

During the first day of the first Test of the ongoing New Zealand’s tour of India in Kanpur, India captain Ajinkya Rahane failed to convert his start into a substantial score in a situation when the team needed him to continue.

Coming in to bat at No. 4 in the 31st over, Rahane looked quite comfortable in the middle scoring 35 (63) with the help of six boundaries. Confident in his approach against both the pacers and spinners, Rahane had given signs of ending his lean patch with some eye-catching shots in the second session.

Rahane, who has been guilty of wasting his starts on multiple occasions in the last year or so, ended up playing a false shot in the 50th over. In what was an ordinary delivery outside the off-stump, Rahane’s attempt of playing a back-foot punch backfired primarily due to the low-bounce on the pitch.

In the process, all Rahane did was chopped the ball back on to the stumps to generate a wicket out of nowhere. Given the bounce (or the lack of it) on the delivery, Rahane shouldn’t have looked to punch the delivery.

Ajinkya Rahane last 10 innings runs

In his last 11 Test innings*, Rahane has scored just 212 runs at a paltry average of 19.27 with a solitary half-century. With India playing without numerous first-choice players today, Rahane was expected to stand tall on his potential.

Bowling his 13th over, New Zealand all-rounder Kyle Jamieson picked his third wicket in Rahane. Opening the bowling with Tim Southee after Rahane won the toss and chose to bat, Jamieson had earlier dismissed the Indian openers in Mayank Agarwal (13) and Shubman Gill (52).

in his short test career, jamieson has troubled India’s batters on three different continents #INDvNZ

— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) November 25, 2021

In a bit of a spot of bother, the hosts would be hoping for debutant batter Shreyas Iyer and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja to bail them out of trouble in this innings.

* – Numbers have been updated after Rahane’s failure in the second innings of the Kanpur Test.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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