'Management will make that call' - Ajinkya Rahane tight-lipped on changes for Mumbai Test

In what was an eventful day five, New Zealand’s tail-enders exuded some great character to pull an incredible draw. Debutant Rachin Ravindra and Ajaz Patel were the last pair of visitors and they denied India a victory. Post the match India’s stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane reckoned about debutant Shreyas Iyer’s knock and the changes team India might need to make in the Mumbai Test.

Rahane has been witnessing a dip in his form lately. Despite him being the vice-captain of the Test setup, there have been discussions on dropping him for the side. The batter has scored 591 runs in his last 20 innings and baring the splendid century at MCG in 2020, he hasn’t been able to register an impactful knock.

He had a rather dismaying outing in the Kanpur Test as well. Rahane scored 35 runs in the first innings whereas departed with just four runs to his account in the second innings. Virat Kohli is all set to join the team for the second Test and that has further added to the discussions of the changes in the next Test.

With Kohli back in the setup, one of the batters will have to make way for him. When asked about the same in the post-match presentation of the Kanpur Test, Rahane denied making any comments on the same.

“Virat is coming back for the next game. We’ll have to wait and see till the Mumbai game. I am not going to make any comments but the management will make a call,” Rahane said.

Debutant Shreyas Iyer impressed everybody with his knocks in the first Test. He hit a belligerent century in the first innings and followed it up with a 65 runs knock in a crunch situation in the second innings. Opening up on it former India cricketer and commentator Aakash Chopra had reckoned that with Kohli’s return someone will be dropped but that wouldn’t be Iyer.

“So, him being there and dominating with regards to how he played against the spinners, now it’s almost impossible to ignore him or drop him for the next Test match, no matter who is coming in. Somebody will go out but that guy won’t be Shreyas Iyer,” Chopra said during the tea-break show on Star Sports on Sunday.