Johannesburg: A defiant Indian head coach Ravi Shastri defended the team management’s decision to not play Ajinkya Rahane in the first two Tests and said that Rohit Sharma was the best option going by form.
“If Jinks (Rahane’s nick name) had played the two games and failed, you would have asked me why Rohit hadn’t played,” Shastri shot back when asked about Rahane’s omission. “Overseas, you go on current form and Rohit’s form coming into the series was better than that of Rahane’s.”
However, with the Wanderers pitch here having a substantial layer of grass and if Sunday and Monday’s practice sessions were any indication, Rahane is sure to make a comeback into the side in the inconsequential third Test in place of Rohit.
The team management may also decide to keep out No.1 spinner Ravi Ashwin and bring back Bhuvneshwar Kumar if the present conditions prevail Wednesday, the inaugural day of the third Test.
Shastri, however, was quick to point out that run outs in the second Test were ‘schoolboyish’ and could have been avoided. At Centurion, Cheteshwar Pujara was run out in both the innings, while Hardik Pandya found himself back in the hut when failed to put his bat down in time inside the return crease.
“The conditions are tough here. One should prevent such schoolboy errors from taking place. Run outs shouldn’t have happened,” the head coach pointed out.
“They have to be rectified. In tough conditions like these, where there is not much between the two teams, you cannot afford to give away wickets like that. Boys have been told that,” Shastri added.
He was also quick to point out that in hindsight it would have been better, if the Indians had arrived 10 days earlier in South Africa. “The preparations would have then been better, we could have got familiar with the conditions. But all that can be said in hindsight, the itinerary was such that it did not leave much time for the players,” Shastri added.
When asked if the mistake would be rectified for the future tours of England and Australia (later in the year), the coach skirted the issue. “I would say that for future foreign tours, we should arrive at least prior to our first game,” Shastri stated.
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