“I don’t think it is a bad thing to drop Ajinkya Rahane”- Dinesh Karthik

Indian batsman and cricket expert Dinesh Karthik feels India need to drop Ajinkya Rahane in the second Test against New Zealand, to be played at Mumbai from December 3. Ajinkya Rahane has been in a pretty poor form of late and has had a year to forget individually.

Not long ago, Ajinkya Rahane had scored a sensational hundred in the Boxing Day Test against Australia and had led India to a series win Down Under in the absence of Virat Kohli. The team management believed in him and gave him a longer rope. However, Rahane has unfortunately not been able to live up to the expectations of many.

Shreyas Iyer, on the other hand, made a sensational debut in Test cricket by hitting a hundred in the first innings and backing it up with a well-made half-century in the second. Speaking to Cricbuzz, Dinesh Karthik explained why it would be beneficial to give Ajinkya Rahane a bit of a breather.

“Iyer has literally taken India to a safe zone in this Test on his own. He’s done really well. And it’s not like Rahane has not been among the runs in 1-2 Tests. It has been going on for a long time now. I don’t think it’s such a bad thing for him to be dropped. It will ease some of the pressure on him,” Dinesh Karthik opined.

Dinesh Karthik recalls Ajinkya Rahane’ strong comeback in South Africa

Dinesh Karthik shed light on how Ajinkya Rahane was dropped in the Test series against South Africa in place of Rohit Sharma. Rahane made a strong comeback in the second Test and helped India register a famous win.

Karthik fully believes that a break like that will help Rahane mentally and will help him get back into his groove.

“With Shreyas Iyer coming in and doing so well, I think the pressure will obviously be on Rahane and he might be the one to be dropped. This has happened during a tour of South Africa when Rahane was dropped for a game before he again came back. There is no harm if Rahane’s dropped for a game,” Rahane concluded.