Highlights:
- Team India will be looking to register a Test series win in England after 14 years
- India boasts a strong middle-order with skipper Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane
- Former Indian batsman VVS Laxman has some advice for the “important member” of the Indian team
Team Indian will be looking forward to registering a Test series win in England after 14 long years and a lot will depend on the performance of the batting lineup. In the last 3 tours of England, especially during the 2014 and 2018 tours, the Indian batting order struggled considerably to cope up against the Duke’s ball in England which led to outcomes such as a 1-3 loss in 2014 and a 1-4 defeat in 2018 tour.
Though team India has many youngsters in the squad, the middle order boasts of the top three in skipper Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. Having said that, none of the three batsmen have been in the kind of form that they are known for.
While Pujara has not scored a Test fifty in his last seven innings, Kohli has looked good in patches. Rahane on the other hand needs to get some runs under his belt before time runs out.
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In 2014, Rahane made headlines as he scored a century at Lord’s and the former India batsman VVS Laxman has advice for India’s No. 5 Test batsman. VVS Laxman said, “Ajinkya Rahane is a very important member of this Indian batting line-up, especially in overseas conditions.
“I still remember the way he batted at Lord’s, in Melbourne and also the way he batted in South Africa was instrumental in India winning those Test matches,” he added during a discussion on Star Sports.
Since his match-winning innings at Melbourne in 2020 against Australia, Rahane has only managed to score fifty once in his 13 innings and the last time he played in England, Rahane managed two fifty-plus scores across 10 innings.
It is evident that Rahane needs to produce his best this time around if India wants to keep their chances of breaking their barren run in England, something Laxman is confident of.
The 46 year old former Indian cricketer said, “The one thing I feel that Ajinkya Rahane has to sort out is his game plan against short-pitched deliveries.
He added, “We saw that in the series against New Zealand, we also saw that in the World Test Championship final”.