Ajinkya Rahane I INDvNZ, WTC Final: Ajinkya Rahane looked in a hurry, played a bad shot and added to the team’s troubles

Southampton: Cricket fans feel very disappointed when a batsman loses his wicket by playing a careless shot in the main match. Indian Test team vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane did something similar in the first innings of the World Test Championship final and gifted New Zealand his wicket with an irresponsible shot. Rahane scored 49 runs in 117 balls with the help of 5 fours on the third day of the WTC final in Southampton. He missed out on completing his half-century by just one run. By the way, Rahane is the best scorer of the team so far.

Ajinkya Rahane gave a simple catch to Tom Latham at square leg in the fourth ball of the 79th over of the Indian innings by Neil Wegner. Rahane was looking very good. He played many lucrative shots during his innings and it looked like the right-handed batsman would play a vital role in taking the team to big scores after completing his half-century. However, Rahane got entangled in the net of Neil Wegner’s short ball. On the short ball that Wegener bowled, Rahane did not even play the pull shot well and it seemed that he did not want to play the shot or he tried to stop his shot at the last minute.

Tom Latham takes a simple catch of Rahane at square leg. The Indian team got the sixth blow when Rahane was dismissed. The Indian team was also more concerned about Rahane’s dismissal because New Zealand had to bowl only 8 more balls to get the new ball. Cricket fans believe that if Rahane had been at the crease, he would have fought the new ball with aplomb and took the team to a respectable score. But that was not possible. He gifted his wicket to the opposing team.

Strong partnership with Kohli

Ajinkya Rahane and captain Virat Kohli shared a crucial partnership of 61 runs for the fourth wicket. New Zealand fast bowler Kyle Jameson broke the partnership by dismissing Indian captain Virat Kohli lbw. Captain Virat Kohli scored 44 runs from 132 balls with the help of 1 four. After Kohli, young wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant (4) could not do any wonders and returned to the pavilion by catching Latham at second slip off Jameson.

Ravichandran Ashwin (22) and Ravindra Jadeja (15 *) together took the Indian team past 200 runs. Southee got Ashwin caught by Latham at second slip. Till lunch, the Indian team scored 211 runs in 89 overs for the loss of 7 wickets in their first innings. Ishant Sharma (2*) with Jadeja is frozen at the crease.