Everything is possible.- Ajinkya Rahane on being chosen for the World Test Championship championship game: Middle-order batsman Ajinkya Rahane is not ruling out a return to the Indian Test team for the ICC World Test Championship final but said there is “still a long way to go”.
Ajinkya Rahane is once again in the running for a Test comeback before the World Tennis Championship final in England in June after scoring an outstanding 19-ball fifty in his Indian Premier League debut for Chennai Super Kings against Mumbai Indians on Saturday night.
Rahane last participated in a Test match in South Africa in January 2022 after being removed from the Test squad and subsequently from BCCI annual contracts. The middle-order batsman, who played the final of the last WTC cycle, averages 20.25 in his last 15 Tests, with no hundreds and just three fifties.
He was replaced in the Test team by Shreyas Iyer, who is questionable for the WTC championship match in June after missing the IPL 2023 due to a back ailment. Rahane, on the other hand, celebrated at the Wankhede with a 27-ball 61 at No. 3, but he insisted he was taking each game as it came.
He Said: “Still, a long way to go [WTC final],” Rahane said at the post-match press conference after the IPL game.
“Today, I was not sure about my place in the eleven, (and) got to know just before the toss. For me, it is about playing one game at a time and staying in the moment.”
“Anything can happen. I will never give up. For me it is about playing with enjoyment and passion,”
Possible Indian lineup for the ICC WTC Final
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Srikar Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan and Kuldeep Yadav.
Also read:ICC WTC 2023: Points Table of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League