Yes! Yesterday, the whole of India would have cried the same lines in the heading as Ajinkya Rahane played a shot straight into the hands of the waiting fielder in the World Test Championship Final at Southampton. Let us analyze the wicket of Ajinkya Rahane in this very short blog post.
Ajinkya Rahane was batting so well! He played some brilliant shots in a pitch that was assisting the bowlers! Some brilliant drives from Rahane took him to a well made 49. When he was on 49, there was a field change from Neil Wagner, the bowler and Kane Williamson, the captain. A traditional field was set for the short ball. Rahane, who was keen to get to a 50, was watching all these from the batsman’s crease. He took a glance at where the fielders were. As expected, it was dug in short by Wagner. Rahane got himself in a good position to pull, but was in two hearts and reduced the force on the shot at the last minute, only to play it right into the hands of that sqaure leg!
Well, even though he knew the field was set up for it, why did he play that? Well from my analysis, these were the few probable factors that led him to play that bad shot.
The first one was that he was on 49. Any batsman would want to get through the nervous 40’s as soon as possible and get to the other end and get a 50. This should have been a very important factor that led to his wicket!
Second fact was that he handled the short ball really well till then. He scored two boundaries off pull shots and was handling it well till then. Hence, as soon as he saw the short ball, his eyes would have lit up instinctively and he should have decided to play the pull!
Third factor was the fact that he was aware of the field change! Well, yes. May sound funny, but even if he had played the pull shot completely, he might have ended up surviving as had he timed it well, it would have crossed the square leg fielder. But the fact that he was aware of the field, created confusion in the last minute and he decides to keep that down. but as always, a shot played in two minds always ends up into the hands of the fielder!
Well put youselves into Rahane’s shoes and think what you would have done different! Anyways, mistakes are a chance to learn and hope that India will win the mace by completing a victory over the Kiwis!
Only explanation is that he was going for his fifty, he was looking to get a single to reach his milestone by a little dab on the onside. In the end, the ball bounced and he couldn’t control, in fact, the ball before that too he couldn’t control it!
Sunil Gavaskar
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