INDIA TOUR OF ENGLAND 2018

Rahane too late to adapt?

by Vishaal Loganathan • Last updated on

Almost all of Ajinkya Rahane's boundaries off the pacers were scored in the square in the second innings at the Rose Bowl © Getty

Let natural style and ability be. Every Indian batsman who has found some success during the Test series in England has got it through some technical adjustments. The series has been marked by pitches that have been consistently hard for the batsmen, and it needed the Indians to make, some subtle and some major, modifications in order to find their own successes.

Virat Kohli stood way outside the crease and left really well on his way to scores of 149, 51, 97 and 103 in four out of six innings before the Test at Southampton. Shikhar Dhawan cut his bat speed, started to play much later and faced more than 50 balls in three consecutive innings for the first time ever in Tests. Cheteshwar Pujara had to work on his balance and footwork, while Ajinkya Rahane cut out the drive during his fine knock of 81 in Nottingham. In fact, the two batsmen - KL Rahul and Murali Vijay - who had not found any success at all were those who trusted their own methods in these alien conditions. Vijay now finds himself out of the team, while Rahul hasn't scored a fifty in 8 innings.

Despite Rahane's knock in Nottingham, he was still a batsman with two major problems. Poking outside off, and being susceptible to the incoming delivery. He had ditched the drive in order to stop jabbing outside off stump and on Sunday, he made some more subtle adjustments to remove the other chink from his armour.

In the first innings, Rahane had been dismissed LBW by Ben Stokes. The pacer had got the ball moving away from him, and when he got it in, the India vice-captain found himself in a tangle and trapped in front.

In the second innings, Rahane came better prepared. To avoid falling to the same trap, Rahane opened up his stance a bit more to the pacers and also crouched a tad lower when the bowler was delivering the ball.

England couldn't really get the ball to move away a lot and concentrated more on bringing the ball in, with a short mid-wicket as a catching option. James Anderson, Ben Stokes and Sam Curran all bowled targeting Rahane's pads, and if the batsman was able to get away, it was thanks to being well prepared.

The open stance meant he did not fall over as much as he had done previously, while the slight crouch just prior to facing the delivery helped him move into position quicker. And again, to avoid edging, Rahane employed the drive very rarely. Almost all the runs he scored off the seamers were square of the wickets, either side. His only boundary other than those came when Broad strayed too far down leg.

When Rahane's innings during India's chase of 245 started, he had pretty much the same stance. At that time, Rahane would walk a tad across and then play the seamers. England too spotted the tell and lured him with away swingers before bringing one in for the LBW. When he was on 3, Broad almost had him, but an inside edge saved the India vice-captain. A few overs later, Sam Curran had him out LBW, but DRS saved Rahane.

After Lunch, however, Rahane had fixed his game. The stance opened up just as much was needed, and the balls on the legs were now played with far less alarm. Off the seamers, nearly 45% of his runs were on the leg side. Compare this to his first innings where he had just one scoring shot to the leg side before being dismissed.

If Rahane's plans against the pacers was delightful, he went one better when the dangerman Moeen Ali was bowling - a long forward stride almost even before the bowler released the ball. Rahane knew Moeen was only targeting the rough outside his off stump, so he moved early to try and ensure he could get not only get as close to the pitch as possible, but also outside the line. It helped him play out the offie almost without any problems before he was eventually dismissed nurdling one off his legs. It showed Rahane's adaptability on a tough surface, and against tough bowlers.

If there had to be a finger pointed at, however, it could be that Rahane had almost no other shot to the spinner. With a gaping rough to target, Moeen was almost put under no pressure. The right-hander went for the drive against the spin only once, and flicked in front of square on the leg side once. Rahane tried to sweep him once early in the innings, but having missed it, he shelved the shot entirely. In hindsight, Rahane could have tried to put off Moeen's length by sweeping him or using his feet to come down the track a bit more. With batting getting increasingly tough, the option to try and blunt out the dangerman without transferring any pressure was perhaps not the best decision.

But seeing how Rahane has adapted on the go in the second half of this series, maybe it'll be a thing he'll pick up now. Unfortunately for India, it will be a little too late.

© Cricbuzz

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