WTC Final: Ajinkya Rahane Set To Make Playing XI, Head Coach Rahul Dravid Drops Major Hint

Head coach Rahul Dravid revealed that Ajinkya Rahane should not consider the WTC Final against Australia as ‘one-off game’.

Source: Twitter

Team India and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batter Ajinkya Rahane is celebrating his 35th birthday on Tuesday and a day later he could be back in the ‘whites’ in Rohit Sharma’s side for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia, starting at the Oval in London on Wednesday. Rahane has stormed back into the reckoning on the back of his impressive performances in domestic cricket as well as his sensational show in the IPL 2023.

Rahane had the highest strike-rate against fast bowlers in IPL 2023 – scoring at over 232 – better than even Suryakumar Yadav. Head coach Rahul Dravid revealed that Rahane should not consider the WTC Final as ‘one-off game’.

Rahane is set to play his first Test in 18 months and a failure in the game could potentially be career-ending. Dravid had a word of advice for the experienced batter. “Firstly it’s good to have him. We've had a few injuries which have probably led to him having the opportunity to come back into the squad. Great for us to have someone of his quality back. He brings obviously a lot of that experience, he brings proven performance in overseas conditions. Even in England he's played some terrific innings for us,” Dravid told the media ahead of the WTC Final on Monday.

“He brings terrific catching in the slips as well to the group. He just brings his personality to the group as well which is really important. He’s led the team to considerable success. And again, I wouldn't want him to approach this as just a one-off,” Team India head coach added.

All out on 36 at Adelaide, pundits expected India to blow apart in the upcoming matches but then came this innings of total assurance from the stand-in captain at the MCG which showed everyone that India meant business.

Happy birthday, Ajinkya Rahane. pic.twitter.com/kvY4HCe7LJ — Rahul Sharma (@CricFnatic) June 5, 2023

Dravid said the 82 Test veteran might go on to play many more five-day games for the country.

“Sometimes you get dropped from teams and you make a comeback and you can play for as long as you're playing well and as long as you’re performing. It’s not written in stone or rule that you only get one match. He puts in a good performance, really shows what he’s got. Who knows, even when people come back from injury, you never know what can happen. So again, from my point of view, it’s not really only about this match. Yes this match is important but then in the larger context of things there's a lot of cricket to be played further down the road as well,” he said.

Rahul Dravid not worried about ICC Trophy drought

India may not have won an ICC title in 10 years but head coach Rahul Dravid on Monday insisted his team is not feeling any pressure going into the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia. However, the former India captain said it would be nice to win the trophy as it is something his team has worked towards over the last two years.

India lost the inaugural WTC final to New Zealand in 2021 and have been guilty of faltering in knockout games. “No, not at all. I mean we don't feel any pressure in terms of trying to win an ICC trophy. Of course it would be nice to do it. It would be certainly nice to be able to win an ICC tournament. But also in the context of things, you look at this and you see this is the culmination of two years of work. It’s a culmination of a lot of success that gets you here. So there’s a lot of positives to take from that to see where you stand on the table. Winning series in Australia, drawing series here, being very competitive everywhere that this team has played in the world over the last five or six years,” Dravid said.

“I think those are things that will never change just because you have or you don’t have an ICC trophy. That’s really the bigger picture,” said Dravid.