WTC Final: Ajinkya Rahane’s inclusion points to India’s dearth of middle order batsmen | Cricket News – Times of India

The four national selectors picked the team late on Monday night before it was announced on Tuesday morning. Rahane’s inclusion comes on the back of a steady Ranji Trophy season and the injury to Shreyas Iyer.
Incidentally, he has also been in blazing form in the ongoing IPL. While there’s much talk about how Rahane may have been picked on his sizzling form for Chennai Super Kings, it actually had very little to do with his selection. His IPL form is purely coincidental in this case, it is learnt.
Rahane’s inclusion is a commentary on India’s dearth of batting resources in the middle order in Test cricket. Hanuma Vihari has been ignored because of an average domestic season.

In February 2022, the team management and selectors took a hard call and decided to move on from Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara in a bid to groom the future of Indian batting. They are now back to square one. Tuesday’s decision points to a bare cupboard when it comes to batting resources in Test cricket. It is expected that Ravindra Jadeja will be asked to do the heavy-lifting in the middle-order. The team management is counting on Rahane’s experience to counter the challenging conditions in England.
Sources told TOI that the selectors had very few options to pick a middle-order batter in the absence of Rishabh Pant and Iyer. Suryakumar Yadav’s long-format batting hasn’t been convincing for the selectors. The selectors are apprehensive about Suryakumar’s ability to play the moving ball. Sarfaraz Khan, who has been dominating First-Class cricket for two seasons, has been exposed against top-notch pace in the IPL. The selectors have resisted picking him also because of his struggles for India ‘A’.

No vice-captain, no second wicketkeeper
The selectors have retained KL Rahul in the squad but they haven’t named a vice-captain for the WTC final. Rahul was stripped of his vice-captaincy in the last two Test matches against Australia just last month. The selectors have also picked only one wicketkeeper in KS Bharat.
Although there is speculation around the possibility of Rahul himself donning the wicketkeeping gloves and batting in the middle order, the chances of Bharat donning the gloves are very high indeed. “Wicketkeeping in England is very tough for new wicketkeepers, let alone part-timers. It is important to have a safe wicketkeeper. It’s not that Rahul has been in red-hot form either,” a source said. Interestingly, India picked three spinners in Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. With Shardul Thakur also back in the team, it will be interesting to see if the team management goes in with two spinners or Thakur serving as the fourth seamer.

Rahul nursing elbow niggle
It is learnt that KL Rahul has been nursing a niggle on his elbow. Rahul has been playing in the IPL with some discomfort. He is trying to bat with lighter bats. “Rahul got hit from a throw from the deep while he was fielding during one of the IPL matches. There is some nagging lingering pain. One hopes it’s not a tennis elbow,” the source said.
The squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat