"Ajinkya Rahane will find it difficult to get a place in the playing XI" - Gautam Gambhir on India's Test team for South Africa tour

Gautam Gambhir has painted a bleak future for Ajinkya Rahane. He highlighted that the middle-order batter is unlikely to make India's playing XI for the first Test against South Africa.

Rahane is going through a prolonged lean run, and has looked out of sorts in the middle. However, the Mumbaikar has been selected in India's 18-member Test squad for the South Africa tour.

During an interaction on the Star Sports show Follow the Blues, Gautam Gambhir was asked about Ajinkya Rahane's future. He responded:

"Tough, that is what I can say because he is not a starter, to be honest. I feel Ajinkya Rahane will find it difficult to get a place in the playing XI."

The former India opener added that Rahane is unlikely to be preferred over the in-form duo of Shreyas Iyer and Hanuma Vihari. Gambhir explained:

"You have got Shreyas Iyer; it will be very difficult for India or the captain to drop him because of his recent performances. At the same time, Hanuma Vihari has done really well as well."

Iyer became the first Indian to score a century and a half-century on Test debut in the Kanpur Test against New Zealand. Meanwhile, Vihari, who was sent to South Africa with the India-A team to get himself acclimatised with the conditions, gave a decent account of himself too.

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"Whether Ajinkya Rahane gets to play in the first Test match is a question mark" - Sanjay Bangar

Ajinkya Rahane has been relieved of vice-captaincy duties [P/C: BCCI]

While acknowledging that Ajinkya Rahane's place in the playing XI is not certain, Sanjay Bangar opined that his selection in the squad was right. He reasoned:

"Ajinkya Rahane has got a place for the South Africa tour, and he should have got picked as well because you will definitely need experience there. Whether he gets to play in the first Test match is a question mark and the first match that is played before the Test match is going to be critical."

The former India batting coach believes the Virat Kohli-led side might have to choose between Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara. Bangar elaborated:

"Hanuma Vihari is already there; he has played for India A there and has scored runs as well. Shreyas got a chance at No.5 in the home series; he performed very well in his debut Test. All in all, I believe the team management will at least want to have one experienced middle-order player, whether it happens to be Pujara or Ajinkya, it all depends on the type of performances that they put in the practice match."

Bangar feels Ajinkya Rahane could benefit from the selectors' decision not to retain him as vice-captain. He said:

"I believe that if vice-captaincy is being taken away from him, it might just loosen him up a bit. It is a thing of responsibility, and sometimes there are questions that I am playing just because I am the captain."

Rohit Sharma has taken over from Rahane as the Indian team's vice-captain in the longest format of the game. It might just help the latter to concentrate more on his game rather than getting too involved in the team's strategic decisions.