Newly appointed Indian coach Rahul Dravid is not worried about the form of Ajinkya Rahane, the vice-captain of the team. He is expecting Rahane to get back in form and feels that he is a quality player who is just one inning away from hitting his way home.
"I don't get worried, you don't get worried. Of course, you would like more runs from Ajinkya. I am sure he would like a few more runs. He is a quality player. He has done well for India in the past. He is one of those guys who has that quality,” Dravid said in the post-match press conference after the end of the 1st Test in Kanpur.
“He has the experience. Hopefully, it's just a matter of an innings, a matter of a game where he can turn it around. Certainly, he would like to score more runs. He knows that. And we know that” Dravid added further.
The performance of Shreyas Iyer in which he became the only Indian player to hit a century and a half-century on debut in Tests has made things difficult for coach Dravid to select the playing XI. Virat Kohli in whose place Iyer played, will be back and hence to accommodate both an opener, most likely Mayank Agarwal would have to make way, but Dravid refused to comment on it.
"We haven't decided the playing XI for Mumbai. It will be too early to talk about it. We have only been thinking about this Test till now,” he said.
“When we get to Bombay, we will look at the conditions, the pitch. We will look at the guys' fitness. Virat Kohli will also join us so there will be consultation with him. Then we will decide who will be in the playing XI,” the coach added signalling that the captain Kohli would have a larger say in how the combination looks like in the all-important second Test.
The series which starts the World Test Championship 2021-23 circle for defending champions New Zealand is now tied at 0-0 with one game to go.