Sunil Gavaskar lashes out at the Indian Team Management for dropping Rahane

Team India won the first ODI against South Africa quite comfortably by six wickets especially after the hosts won the toss and notched up an impressive 269 in the first innings. They never looked comfortable at any instance of the game. Their skipper Faf du Plessis scored a brilliant century to help them post a good total on the board. However, heroics from du Plessis wasn’t enough to see the Proteas through.

In was just one of those easy chases for King Kohli. He steered his way through scoring his 33rd ODI century and is only next to the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar in terms of the century count. The Proteas definitely missed the services of their former skipper AB de Villiers. Furthermore, South Africa will also miss the services of their captain for the remainder of the series due to a finger injury.

Dropping Rahane was a mistake: Sunil Gavaskar

All the talks from the beginning of this series have been circling around Ajinkya Rahane. He was dropped from the playing XI in the first two tests citing poor form. Under some serious pressure, the management decided to slot him in for the final test and Rahane impressed everyone. Although Rahane is out of form, he is a class act apart and has a terrific overseas record.

Ajinkya Rahane has proved that team management that their decision to drop him from the playing XI in the recent past was a “mistake”. The crucial No.4 position has been a matter of huge concern for the management. Rahane was labeled as an opener and hence had to warm the bench in last few ODI series that India player.

“They did not pick him in the ODI matches [against Sri Lanka last year], slotting him down as an opening batsman. Look, he bats in the middle-order in Tests, so he is used to batting the middle-order in the ODI matches. Yes, there was a feeling that he was not able to rotate the strike freely in the middle order. But over the years he has improved that, he is scoring at a very good clip,” Sunil Gavaskar said.

But, quashing all the perceptions aside, Rahane hit a beautiful 79 in the first ODI showing some great composure. Gavaskar lauded Rahane for his terrific innings and said improved a lot. He added that Rahane is also hitting those big shots now. Also, the Mumbai batsman has sealed his spot at the No. 4 spot in ODIs, according to Sunil Gavaskar.

“He is technically so good. On overseas pitches where there is a little bit of help for the quicker bowlers, he is able to stave off the good deliveries and wait for the bad deliveries. I think he has sealed his spot at No. 4. There shouldn’t be too much discussion about No. 4 unless he is terribly out of form [again]. He has sealed for this series at least for this series,” he concluded.