5 opening partners for Rohit Sharma in the Champions Trophy

#3 Ajinkya Rahane

It is unlikely that Rahane will be picked in the Indian squad for the Champions Trophy

Without a doubt, Ajinkya Rahane is one of India’s best batsman in Tests. But, when it comes to the limited-over formats, Rahane is nothing more than a liability. An average of 32 with a strike-rate of 78 is not acceptable in the modern era. To be fair, he didn’t get a long run in one particular position and this could be the reason for his failure in this format.

Often, he was criticised for failing to rotate the strike in the middle overs when he batted at number 4. The problem continued when he opened the batting for the Men in Blue as he struggled to get going after taking a lot of time to get his eye in, and he has also found it hard to accelerate when the team needed him to. This will affect the team’s cause in big chases. In spite of being successful in chasing over 300, India have never chased down more than 300 in the matches that featured the Mumbaikar.

It is highly unlikely that India’s vice-captain in Tests will get into the squad for the 2017 Champions Trophy as the selectors might pick Dhawan and Rahul ahead of Rahane.