ENG vs IND 2021: “Expectations From Ajinkya Rahane Were To Score Runs But He Just Looked Fidgety” – Aakash Chopra

Indian Test Vice Captain had a very poor outing in the first Test against England at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. Meanwhile former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra feels like Rahane looked fidgety during his innings on Day 2 of a Test match.

Notably, Ajinkya Rahane got run out at the score of just 5 runs and failed to contribute crucial runs for the team. Also, Rahane would have got out on a duck as he tried to take a risky single when he was batting at the score of 0. However, he survived that run out but couldn’t survive the next one as he got out after the mix-up with opener KL Rahul.

OH RAHANE! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? 😕
India are 4 down as Rishabh Pant walks in 🏏

Tune into Sony Six (ENG), Sony Ten 3 (HIN), Sony Ten 4 (TAM, TEL) & SonyLIV (https://t.co/AwcwLCPFGm ) now! 📺#ENGvINDOnlyOnSonyTen #BackOurBoys #AjinkyaRahane pic.twitter.com/m5QMsPllj2

— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) August 5, 2021

While reviewing Rahane’s innings, Chopra stated that the vice-captain was expected to perform better. Aakash Chopra said:

“Ajinkya Rahane is the vice-captain of the Indian Test team. He has a lot of experience in the format. So the expectations from him were to score runs. But he just looked fidgety out in the middle. He could have got run out early as he looked to get off the mark with a risky single. Luckily, Rahane got some extra runs with overthrows.”

“I don’t feel KL Rahul had called for a run” – Aakash Chopra

Cricketer turned commentator believes that KL Rahul was not at all responsible for Rahane’s run out, it was just a wrong move by Rahane. Aakash Chopra said:

“Looking at Rahane’s eventual runout, I don’t feel KL Rahul had called for a run. He never went even halfway but Rahane, at the other end, had already taken off. There was never a run in it. Had the two batsmen tried for a single, there was a run-out possibility at both ends.”

“Rahane eventually tried to scamper back but the direct hit caught him well short. Even if it wasn’t a direct hit, there was a fielder waiting near the stumps to run Rahane out. The needless dismissal left India stuttering. They had already lost Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara cheaply,” he added. 

Meanwhile, Ajinkya Rahane was the highest run-getter for India in the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC) tournament. However, in the first WTC finals, he scored 49 and 15 runs. Also in the home series against England, he scored only 112 runs in four Tests at an average below 20.