Former Indian opening batter and commentator Aakash Chopra has shared his views on the former Indian middle-order batter Ajinkya Rahane, who announced his retirement from all forms of the game.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Chopra has reckoned that Rahane used to perform his best when the ball came nicely onto the bat. Moreover, he emphasized that in the SENA conditions, Rahane had a decent enough record.
Furthermore, Chopra observed that Rahane performed well on seaming tracks rather than spinning tracks. However, he went on to add that under Virat Kohli’s captaincy, India played most of the home games on rank turners, which didn’t help Rahane at all.
“He was never a power player. He was always a touch player. In Indian conditions, where the ball gets old, aggressive hitters were required. These were not those types of players, so that did not suit them. For a long time, during Virat’s captaincy, we were playing on pitches where runs were not scored easily,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
“We were just producing rank turners after rank turners, so that was of no benefit. His game… did not suit those conditions; seaming, swinging ball coming onto the bat… that is what Ajinkya Rahane is, or rather, that brought out the best in Ajinkya Rahane,” Chopra added.
On Thursday, July 30, Ajinkya Rahane retired from international cricket and all formats with immediate effect. The former middle-order batter played 85 Tests, 90 ODIs and 20 T20Is for India. His last international game came against the West Indies in July 2023. Rahane is currently in the UK, doing commentary for The Hundred.
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