CSK skipper MS Dhoni was reportedly reached out by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) before selecting his IPL teammate Ajinkya Rahane in the test team squad for the upcoming World Test Championship final,(As per Sportskeeda citing sources). The finale is scheduled to be played from June 7 to to June 11 2023. Rahane’s surprise inclusion in the ICC tournament raised a lot of questions as the Mumbai batter has not played test cricket since January 2022.
The 34 years old was dropped from the squad after his poor performance in the three match Test series on their tour of South Africa in December 2021- January 2022. Rahane was in a disastrous form against Proteas where he managed to score only 136 runs in three Tests at an average of 22.67.
The right-handed batter also had a bad series in 2021 when team Indian toured England. Rahane played 4 Tests on the English surface where he scored only 109 runs at a poor average of 15.57. His last 15 Tests only have three half centuries where he scored a total of 547 runs at an average of 23.7.
However, the Mumbai-born was picked up by Chennai Super Kings for the ongoing edition of IPL where he is in his prime T-20 form. Playing under the leadership of former Indian skipper MS Dhoni, he has once again brought his best as the senior Indian batter has scored 209 runs in just 5 games at an booming strike rate of around 200. In 5 matches he has 2 half centuries, one against Mumbai Indians, and the other one is against Kolkata Knight Riders.
After his surprise inclusion in the WTC squad, a lot of revelations were made that said, how can one be selected in the final of World Test Championship based on a T-20 performance. Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar came out in support of BCCI’s decision and said “Ajinkya Rahane finds himself in the WTC squad not because of his current IPL form”. With two of India’s middle order batters Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant currently being injured, Rahane has a good chance of playing in the final.
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