Ajinkya Rahane should walk back into the Indian Test team. He deserves a longer rope

On a December morning baked in the sun, the Wankhede was abuzz with the return of Test cricket. Ever since it had hosted Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell game out of turn in November 2013 against the West Indies, Mumbai had been deprived of international red ball cricket.

But with England’s arrival late last year, Test cricket returned to Mumbai. The cricket lovers of the city had thronged the stadium. The flags were out, the chants were sung and the Mexican wave made an appearance too. A packed Wankhede can be electrifying.

A Wankhede packed with fans, who shout and scream their lungs out in support of the Indian team, can intimidate an opponent player but also inspire a local hero. As a team, India emerged as champions of the world six years ago at the venue. As an individual player, Sachin Tendulkar was put on a pedestal reserved only for God in his bastion.

Waiting for a home hero

But with Sachin Tendulkar away from the cricket fields, the Wankhede was in search of a new hero. Mumbai’s voice demanded a new direction.

Ajinkya Rahane had been India’s standout Test batsman for the last couple years. His teammates had come across as novices but he had emerged as the sultan of the swing in New Zealand, the master of the seam in England and the tamer of the bounce in Australia. He was also the lone Mumbaikar in the Indian squad in the build up to the city’s reunion with Test cricket.

Thus, the platform was set for Rahane to be at the beat of Wankhede’s heart. The only blip was that he had failed in the five instances he had walked out to bat in the series thus far. But there was too much class in Rahane’s game to keep him away from the runs for long.

To overcome this sudden and rare disappearance of form, Rahane had put in the hard yards. In the break between the Mohali and Mumbai Tests, he had spent hours with his coach Pravin Amre to revisit his technique at the Mumbai Cricket Association’s Bandra Kurla Compex Academy.

On the eve of the Test, Rahane even had an extended practice session with the bat. The determination to blow away the barren patch was greater than the hard work he had put in in the lead up to his first Test at home. It was, however, this resolve of his to come up trumps that ended what could have been another of Rahane’s story of grit.

The injury which ruined Rahane’s season

Rahane fractured his right index finger during practice a day before the Mumbai Test. It meant India played a Test match in Mumbai without a Mumbaikar in the side for the first time since 1933. More importantly, it robbed Rahane of the opportunity to be the darling of the Wankhede.

On that December morning – the first day of the fourth Test – when the Indian team took the field, vuvuzelas, whistles, dhols and chants made for a deafening atmosphere. The atmosphere was perfect for the home team to thrive in, but it was one the local boy would be deprived of. He sat there in the balcony with a plaster on his index finger, as he watched his teammates commence their charge for a third Test win of the series.

After a while, Rahane headed down with a member of the staff to exchange notes with the boundary riders and hand them water. While he moved around the ground, from the other side of the boundary, the stadium got behind the local boy and one of India’s finest current Test batsmen. “Aj-in-kya, Aj-in-kya” went the chant. All Rahane could do is acknowledge the crowd with the wave of a hand. Little did he know that this wave could also be a goodbye to his fans for a while.

The fracture ruled Rahane out of the final Test in Chennai as well. If it was not painful enough to miss another Test, Karun Nair, who had taken Rahane’s spot, scored a triple century.

The Karnataka batsman had taken just three innings to reserve himself a place in Test cricket’s history books with the monumental knock. Along with Virender Sehwag, he became the only other Indian triple centurion.

While the magnanimity of the knock made the world sit up and take notice of latest batting star to have come out of India’s constant churn of batsmen, it could have left Rahane in a spot of slight ambiguity.

That India had thrashed England 4-0, with little contribution from Rahane in the first three Tests and without his participation in the last two, could not have helped calm his nerves. From India’s best bet in the whites to a player whose place in the XI was challenged, Rahane’s career threatened to pull off a summersault.

Left out of ODIs, left out of T20Is

But that is not where the stumbling blocks in Rahane’s path ended. Up next were the One-Day Internationals against England after the Christmas break. Virat Kohli took over from MS Dhoni as the shorter-format captain too, and recalled Yuvraj Singh on the back of a strong domestic season.

A fit-again Rahane was in the squad but could not beat the experience of Yuvraj Singh to the middle-order spot. Kedar Jadhav, on the other hand, provided more power as a finisher compared to Rahane.

Yuvraj Singh blazed to a 150 in the series, while Jadhav produced two scintillating knocks when India chased targets. These, all, but sealed Rahane’s hopes of a spot in the Champions Trophy playing XI.

As an opener was Rahane’s only shot at a backdoor entry. Kohli handed him that opportunity in the third and final ODI. But in India’s chase of 321, Rahane survived for a mere six balls. David Willey’s left-arm swing beat his bat and pads and castled the off-stump.

ODI cricket had remained a tough journey for him. The uncertainty about which spot belonged to him had compiled his misery over the years. The same uncertainty had kept him out of the first two ODIs and evoked a tentative shot in his only chance in the third. Rahane had not been picked for the T20 series was to follow.

Rahane’s regular spot since his return had been elusive, but the determination had stood by him.

But Rahane did not lose any of his determination

The 28-year-old could have packed his bags, resigned to the comfort of his home and sulked a bit while he waited for the Bangladesh Test to come by. But, instead, he went and played a couple of Twenty20s for Mumbai in the West Zone T20 League. His 78 even played a part in Mumbai’s triumph over Baroda.

With the domestic T20s done, Rahane headed back to the BKC academy for regular batting stints, while his India teammates took time off.

Like he has in all these countless practice sessions and the couple of domestic T20 ties, Rahane promises to be a picture of concentration and focus if he is given the nod to face Bangladesh.

“We still haven’t thought about the combination but it is nice that Karun took his opportunity and did what he did in Chennai,” India coach Anil Kumble remarked on Tuesday. “It is fantastic for a young cricketer to come in and score a triple-hundred. But we know what Ajinkya has done for this team. Ajinkya’s performances have been phenomenal across conditions. It is nice that somebody who came in to replace Ajinkya because of the injury in Mumbai, took three or four innings and was able to score a three-hundred. It’s nice to have to have that kind of contribution and that kind of ability from the youngsters.”

Karun Nair may have scored a triple ton in his last innings for the country, but purely on the basis of his consistent Test exploits, Rahane deserves to walk back into the team. He deserves, once again, to settle down into his stance – bend his back, excessively tap his bat and constantly blink his eyes- as he prepares to master Shakib Al Hasan & Co.