Wasim Jaffer and Ajinkya Rahane. (Photo Source: Twitter and Visionhaus/Getty Images)
Courtesy of an unfortunate injury to Shreyas Iyer, veteran batter Ajinkya Rahane made it to the Indian squad for the World Test Championship final. Before that, he performed really well in the Ranji Trophy and for Chennai Super Kings in the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League, but there still were question marks regarding his selection as his inconsistency with the bat has always been a matter of discussion.
Nevertheless, Rahane did remarkably well in the final and based on which, the selection committee appointed him as the vice-captain of the side for the West Indies tour. As a leader, he has done a commendable job in the past, helping the team to win against Australia 2-1 in 2020-21. However, when it comes to his batting, Rahane once again failed to make a mark in the West Indies series, and that remains a concern going forward.
Speaking about the same, former India batter Wasim Jaffer stated that if Rahane manages to be more consistent, he can replace Rohit Sharma as the next skipper of the Indian team in the longest format of the game. He talked about Rahane’s previous accomplishments and believes that he still has the age on his side to lead the national team.
“Rahane will have to show consistency in his game, which has been his problem even though he has played 80-90 Tests (84). Consistency has been an issue, he will have to overcome it because India have a good captaincy option in him after Rohit Sharma is done. Rahane will have to make runs, and then everything else will follow,” Jaffer said during a media interaction organised by Jio Cinema.
“If his form was great from that Australia series after that 36 all-out, the way he led, scored a hundred in Melbourne… had his form remained the same, he would have been the next Test captain. But he lost his form and got dropped. However, he reinvented himself in the IPL and got a chance in the WTC final. He was appointed the vice-captain as well, because the Indian selectors see a good leader in him. He still has age on his side but he needs to score runs, if he does not then he will find it difficult,” he added.