3 Players who can replace struggling Ajinkya Rahane in Tests

It was not too long ago that Ajinkya Rahane was considered as India’s best Test batsman alongside Virat Kohli, especially when India toured outside the subcontinent. However, in the last couple of years, Rahane’s form has been on the decline. He has struggled quite a bit and his form has largely been scratchy.

It was more than two years ago that Ajinkya Rahane scored a Test century. It came against Sri Lanka and since then, the Mumbai batsman has scored just five half-centuries without reaching the three-figure mark in 28 innings. Since the start of 2018, Rahane averages just 25.14.

However, Rahane has contributed pretty well in some of India’s overseas Test wins in 2018. He scored a gutsy 48 in Johannesburg, 81 at Trent Bridge and 70 in Adelaide – all of which resulted in India’s wins. But apart from these knocks, the Indian Test vice-captain doesn’t have a lot to show. His consistency has affected India quite a bit as well.

Moreover, he has been in iffy form in recent times as well. He played for Hampshire earlier this year in the County Championship Division One. Rahane scored just 307 runs from 13 innings which included one hundred and one fifty. Thus, he has struggled big time and there are a few players who are waiting for an opportunity.

Here are three players who can replace the struggling Ajinkya Rahane in Tests.

Shreyas Iyer

In recent times, there has been a lot of focus on Shreyas Iyer. He has impressed and staked a claim for the No. 4 spot in the Indian ODI team. However, Iyer’s white-ball exploits have overshadowed his ability and performances in the longer format.

The Mumbai right-hander has an excellent first-class record. He has consistently scored runs for Mumbai and India ‘A’ in the domestic circuit. Iyer averages 52.18 and has a strike-rate of 81.54 in red-ball cricket. In 2015-16, the middle-order batsman scored 1310 runs in the Ranji season which is the third-most in the history of Ranji Trophy cricket. He has continued to do well for Mumbai since.

It was in early 2017 that Iyer smashed an unbeaten 202 against Australia in a tour game. In fact, he was on the verge of a Test debut as well when Virat Kohli was injured in the fourth Test. Iyer has been the captain of India ‘A’ for a while now and has been in and around the Indian side and hence, hasn’t played a lot of red-ball cricket in the last two seasons. However, in whatever little he’s played, he has done well. Thus, Iyer may be a good option to replace Ajinkya Rahane in the middle.