“When Ajinkya Rahane plays attacking cricket, he is a different player” - Wasim Jaffer 

Former India batter Wasim Jaffer hailed Ajinkya Rahane for making a successful comeback to the Indian team during the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia. Jaffer praised the former vice-captain for delivering the goods under pressure.

Rahane made a comeback to the Test squad for the WTC final following a stellar Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season during which he batted with an uncharacteristically aggressive mindset. The 35-year-old’s batting performance was one of the few positives for India in an otherwise disappointing WTC final.

The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batter top-scored for India with a defiant 89 in the first innings. He chipped in with 46 in the second essay even as India went down without much of a fight.

Applauding Rahane over his impressive comeback to the Test team, Jaffer told Sportskeeda:

“The way he batted in both innings and absorbed the pressure… India were under pressure in both innings when he walked out to bat. India were chasing a big score in the first innings and it was the same story in the second innings. He has shown that he can absorb that pressure.

"When Ajinkya Rahane plays attacking and positive cricket, he is a different player. I just hope he plays and he stays consistent from here on,” Jaffer added.

Responding to Australia’s first-innings total of 469, India were in trouble at 71/4. Rahane added 71 runs for the fifth wicket with Ravindra Jadeja (48) and 109 for the seventh wicket with Shardul Thakur.

In the second essay as well, India had lost three wickets for 93 after being set a mammoth target of 444. Rahane (46) and Virat Kohli (49) added 86 for the fourth wicket. But once the partnership was broken, India crumbled to 234 all-out.

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“In Australia’s top eight, at least four were left-handers” - Jaffer on Ashwin being left out

Like several others, Jaffer also opined that India made a mistake by leaving out experienced off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin from the playing XI.

Pointing out the number of left-handers in the opposition camp, the 45-year-old commented:

“About the team that India played, there was a lot of talk that Ashwin should have played. I also felt the same. In Australia’s top eight, I think at least four were left-handers. He is the world’s number one ranked Test bowler. We had beaten Australia at home recently and Ashwin had performed very well in that series.

“India didn’t bowl well. India didn’t bat well. We didn’t score enough runs in both innings,” he concluded.

While India dropped Ashwin from the playing XI, Australia’s off-spinner Nathan Lyon shone with five wickets, including four in the second innings.