India batting great Rahul Dravid says Ajinkya Rahane is more suited to the No. 5 position than No. 3, where he batted in two Tests during the just-concluded series against Sri Lanka.
In all likelihood, vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane would get another chance but over the past two years, his inconsistency has hurt this team badly.
Opener Ajinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan slammed centuries to help India humiliate Sri Lanka by a huge margin of 169 runs in the first One-Day International in Cuttack, on Sunday.
Yet to get a game in the tournament, Rahane could find himself playing at his home ground in Mumbai if Yuvraj doesn't recover fully in time for the last-four game on March 31.
Buoyed by their crushing 157-run victory in the fourth Test at The Oval on Monday, a confident Indian team will seek to continue their winning momentum in the fifth and final Test against England at Manchester.
Ajinkya Rahane has been a conspicuous absentee from the ongoing Indian runfest against Sri Lanka but the middle order batsman appears to have the backing of the team management ahead of the tour of South Africa later this month.
India cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni feels that talented Mumbai batsman Ajinkya Rahane is one player who has improved by leaps and bounds in recent times and is ready to don any hat for the team's cause.
The talent is in plenty in this squad and if this machine runs smoothly, a sixth IPL trophy will be at touching distance for Thala and Co.
While Ajinkya Rahane has been named vice-captain, pacer Navdeep Saini was recalled into the Test squad.
Reigning champions Kolkata Knight Riders will hope that their strife-ridden batting unit will tighten its act against in-form table-toppers Gujarat Titans in the IPL match in Kolkata on Monday.
Images from Day 1 of the first Test between Sri Lanka and India in Colombo, on Thursday.
Jaiswal has been part of Mumbai's Ranji squad since the 2018-19 season and in 34 Ranji Trophy matches he has a first-class average of 61.65.
Sunil Gavaskar has said that number four should not be the permanent spot for MS Dhoni and Ajinkya Rahane should bat at that position.
Ajinkya Rahane insisted he does not have preference for a particular batting position and that he was willing to bat at any number.
While it is generally his captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni who has made this habit of hitting the winning runs - in some style too, Ajinkya Rahane had that honour in Rising Pune Supergiants' match against the Delhi Daredevils.
Krunal Pandya, Josh Hazlewood, and Sunil Narine emerged as rare bright spots-combining discipline, guile, and experience
Mumbai will have to beat Meghalaya by a big margin to win with a bonus point in their last league match while also needing other results to go their way.
Images from Day 1 of the second Test between India and New Zealand in Kolkata, on Friday.
'There is no question of dropping Rahane. He has scored really well, he has been extremely successful over the last couple of years'
Kolkata Knight Riders rode on Venkatesh Iyer's explosive 60 off 29 balls to crush a hapless Sunrisers Hyderabad by 80 runs to register their second win of IPL 2025 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday.
Prithvi should bat just like he does for Mumbai in Ranji Trophy, said Rahane
Short of match practice, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ashish Nehra and Ajinkya Rahane will captain the India A team for two warm-up matches against England at CCI, Mumbai next week. Dhoni, who has not played a competitive game in over two months, will lead the India A side in the opening warm-up here on January 10. Rahane, who is coming back from an injury, will captain the team in the second warm-up on January 12.
Rahane spoke about how pink ball's increased pace off the pitch during the 40-50 minutes of the twilight session, will be the biggest challenge for any batsman.
Ajinkya Rahane scored a blistering 98 to guide Rajasthan Royals to a comprehensive 31-run win over Kings XI Punjab in their opening Indian Premier League season five match in Jaipur.
Rahane dropped anchor to score an unbeaten 144 off 156 balls while the young Ishan Kishan smashed his way to an 87-ball 114 during their opening stand of 210, which took the C team's score to 352 for seven in 50 overs.
Gujarat Titans handed defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders an emphatic 39-run loss in the IPL 2025 match in Kolkata on Monday.
Ajinkya Rahane and his Mumbai teammate Suryakumar Yadav went under the hammer for Rs 7 lakh each.
Indian batsman Ajinkya Rahane joined the bandwagon of Indian players, who have attributed Team Director Ravi Shastri for bringing about a turnaround in team's fortunes with his technical inputs in the ongoing ODI series after their dismal show in the Test matches.
Debutants Rising Pune Supergiants, on Saturday made a splendid debut in the Indian Premier League by thrashing defending champions Mumbai Indians by nine wickets in the opening game of the season at the Wankhede Stadium, in Mumbai.
Two more failures in two home games could effectively mean end of the road for Ajinkya Rahane, who is leading India in the first Test in Kanpur, starting on Thursday.
Controversial keeper-batter Wriddhiman Saha, who has been dropped from the Test team, will still earn Rs 1 crore in annual income after being demoted from group B to C.
'The boys deserve all the credit for the character they showed, real character.'
Ajinkya Rahane (PVI of 60) and Mandeep Singh (58) are still IPL's most paisa vasool players costing franchise owners less than US$100 per 'run equivalent'.
Ajinkya Rahane is the fifth Indian to hit a hundred while batting at No. 7 away from home, during the second Test against New Zealand in Wellington.
Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw and Ajinkya Rahane flopped with the bat as defending champions Mumbai were shocked by Baroda by 84 runs.
A few bruised egos will eye redemption when India square off against Australia in the second Test in Melbourne from Saturday, ready to bounce back in skipper Ajinkya Rahane's hour of reckoning after their batting debacle in the series opener in Adelaide.
Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane hit unbeaten half-centuries to put India in firm control, on Day 3 of the first Test against West Indies in Antigua, on Saturday.
Images from the Asia Cup match between Bangladesh and India in Fatullah on Wednesday.
There remains a big question mark over who will be India's No.4 in the World Cup.
With Rahul likely to bat at No 4, asks Harish Kotian, will Ajinkya Rahane get a look in?
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