‘I was playing ODIs continuously, suddenly got dropped’ – Ajinkya Rahane opens up about his lean patch

Veteran Indian batter Ajinkya Rahane has been enduring a rough patch over the last 12 months as runs have dried up for him. In 2021, the 33-year-old scored just 479 runs in 13 Tests at a dismal average of 20.83. As a result, he was stripped off as India’s vice-captain in the longest format of the game. His place in the side has also come under the scanner.

In 2022, Rahane played two Tests in South Africa and couldn’t impress much either. He scored 68 runs in four innings which includes a half-century. Speaking of his lean patch in the purest format, Rahane said lack of game time has affected his batting. Ever since the COVID-19 came in the picture, many domestic tournaments in India have been cancelled.

You can’t score runs sitting at home: Ajinkya Rahane

As Rahane hasn’t been around the ODI or T20I team either, he has been short of match practice. He believes this factor should be taken into account while judging his performances.

“Sometimes, the reality is, when you play only one format and especially in the last 2-3 years where there is no Ranji cricket and no other domestic games, I think that needs to be taken into account because you can’t score runs sitting at home,” Rahane said on Backstage with Boria.

“No matter how much you practice or have ner sessions, the confidence will not be gained with that. Confidence comes with game time and scoring runs in matches,” he added. For the unversed, Ranji Trophy was last held in 2019/20. While the 2020/21 edition was called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the current season was further delayed due to a sudden rise in cases across the nation.

The First-Class tournament will get underway on February 17. Meanwhile, Rahane even said that he was “suddenly” dropped from the ODI team in 2018 despite doing fairly well in the format.

“Before that, I was playing ODI cricket continuously for Team India and I was doing really well. Suddenly, I got dropped, I don’t want to go into that, I don’t want to go into my past but the reality is I was playing well in 2014, 15, 16, and 17. ODI and Test cricket both were going really well. After that I hardly got game time, there was a huge gap between Test matches,” the veteran batter further said.