Ajinkya Rahane sweats profusely in the nets ahead of the Test series against New Zealand

Ajinkya Rahane Practice Before New Zealand Test Series: Struggling to score runs in Test cricket for some time, Ajinkya Rahane, the vice-captain (in Test) of the Indian team, ahead of the two-Test series against New Zealand starting on November 25, will be held at the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) here. I am working hard. This home series against New Zealand is very important for Rahane’s Test career. If the drought of runs does not end with his bat, then serious questions will arise about his place in the team. In the absence of regular captain Virat Kohli, he will lead the team in the first Test to be played in Kanpur.

At the same time, the second Test of the series will be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai from December 5. Rahane has scored only 644 runs in the last 15 Test matches at an average of 24.76. He has struggled to live up to the expectations after scoring a memorable century in the Melbourne Test in December last year.

All eyes were on Rahane for the players of the Test team in the brief practice session that began on Monday at the Mumbai Cricket Association’s Bandra Kurla complex. He arrived for net practice in the afternoon and began his practice on the bowling of off-spinner Jayant Yadav, who returned after five years in the Indian team. During this Rahane was paying more attention to the defensive game. He also practiced on the bowling of Mumbai fast bowler Tushar Deshpande.

Cheteshwar Pujara, who became the team’s vice-captain for the first Test against New Zealand, also practiced here. Abhay Kuruvilla is monitoring this camp which runs till Thursday. Apart from Rahane and Pujara, young batsmen Shubman Gill and Mayank Agarwal also faced the bowlers alternately in the nets.

Veteran pacer Ishant Sharma and fast bowler Pranami Krishna also bowled during the net session. The Test experts of the Indian team started their practice in a positive manner where the batsmen practiced for more than two hours. During this, some officials of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) were also present here.