Rahane last 10 Test innings: Ajinkya Rahane battles it out during IND vs SA Johannesburg Test with career on the line

Rahane last 10 Test innings: Despite Ajinkya Rahane’s poor run of form off-late, the right-hander has been handed a long enough rope in Tests.

After Day 2 of the ongoing India versus South Africa second Test match at The Wanderers in Johannesburg, team India have their noses slightly ahead of the home side after the latter took a mere 27-run lead in their first innings.

The day belonged to Team India all-rounder Shardul Thakur, who picked up his maiden five-wicket haul in Tests, and finished with figures of 17.5-3-61-7 in the first innings.

He turned up each time the Proteas batters were in sight of upping their game and tightening their noose on the Indian bowlers; be it his three successive wickets just at the stroke of Lunch, or when Temba Bavuma and Kyle Verreynne stitched in a handy partnership post the break. His 7 for 61, is in fact the best bowling figures by a Subcontinent bowler in Tests in South Africa.

Beginning their second innings, the Indian fans’ focus was yet again on the experienced duo of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara, after skipper KL Rahul and his fellow opening batter Mayank Agarwal were dismissed with India just managing to erase the first innings deficit.

Rahane last 10 Test innings

Both Pujara (35*)and Rahane (11*) have made sure that India did not lose further wickets, and most importantly have stitched together a 41* run partnership so far for the 3rd wicket. Given the duo’s poor run of form, the ongoing innings is of utmost significance for both the batters, if they are to further claim a spot in the playing 11 in the upcoming matches.

More so for Rahane, who has just a single score of above 50 in his last ten Test innings, which came back in August last year against England at the Lord’s Cricket stadium.

In his last ten innings (excluding the ongoing one at The Wanderers), the 33-year-old has scored a total of 210 runs with just a single score of above 50 as mentioned above.

As far as the ongoing series is concerned, he returned with scores of 48 and 20 in the first and second innings respectively at Centurion, while was dismissed for a Golden Duck- his first ever in Tests, during the first innings of the ongoing Test match at The Wanderers.