MS Dhoni Was Consulted Before Picking Ajinkya Rahane In India Squad For WTC 2023 Final, Says Report

After a brilliant Ranji Trophy season where Rahane smashed 634 runs in 7 matches, he has carried his form to IPL where he has struck 209 runs in 5 matches at strike rate of nearly 200.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batter Ajinkya Rahane has been in superb form in IPL 2023. The Mumbai-born batter has smashed 209 runs in 5 games so far in the T20 league. But what has stood out is his strike rate of 199.04. Rahane has completed two fifties this season as well, becoming the surprise package from the Super Kings camp. The 34-year-old was picked by the BCCI selectors in India squad, a few days ago, for the final of the World Test Championships, which is to be played at The Oval in London in June vs Australia. The selection had a lot to do with Rahane's runs in IPL as well as domestic cricket.

Dhoni played a role in Rahane's selection

Rahane's selection in India Test squad has raised many eyebrows as well. The critics believe that instead of Rahane, someone like Sarfaraz Khan was a better choice. As per a report in Times of India, the return of Rahane into the national side may have to do with MS Dhoni. The report states that MS Dhoni's inputs were taken by the Indian team management and selection committee before recalling Rahane for the WTC Final.

Rahane's domestic run

For the uninitiated, Rahane slammed 634 runs in just 7 Ranji Trophy matches and the runs came at a healthy average pf 57. He backed it with with a super show in the ongoing IPL where more than his runs, his new-born aggression is something that has impressed everybody, not least the selectors. 

Ravi Shastri happy with WTC squad

Former Team India head coach Ravi Shastri is quite happy with the squad selected to face Australia in WTC final from June 7 to 11. He tweeted pictures of Rahane, Shardul Thakur and Rohit Sharma from a Test match and wrote: "Best Indian team selected. Well done selectors and team management #WTCFinal2023 #TeamIndia."

At the same time, Sunil Gavaskar also praised the comeback of old war horse Rahane. Gavaskar mentioned that Rahane's selection is more to do with his performances in the domestic cricket than just IPL. "That was the only change needed for the Indian side. They needed a replacement for Shreyas Iyer. Ajinkya Rahane finds himself in the WTC squad not because of his current IPL form, mind you, he was in a pretty decent form in the Ranji Trophy. He did very well for Mumbai in the domestic season. The question now is in the final eleven, who’s going to be playing? Whether it will be KS Bharat the wicket-keeper or KL Rahul. We’ll just have to wait and see,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports.