India’s former vice-captain in Tests, Ajinkya Rahane, is currently trending on social media, thanks to Team India’s unexpected horror batting show in the opening game of the three-match Test series against New Zealand at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
As the Indian cricket team suffered a dramatic collapse, getting bowled out for just 46 runs in the first Test against New Zealand at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Ajinkya Rahane took a brutal dig at the superstars of the team with his perfectly-timed post on Instagram.
Ajinkya Rahane’s Instagram post goes viral amid India’s collapse against New Zealand
Indian wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant was the top scorer for India with 20 runs off 49 balls, as the hosts bundled out for 46 runs against New Zealand at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday (October 17). It was India’s lowest total on home soil in Test cricket history.
The Indian cricket team, as they had experienced something similar fate in Adelaide back in 2020 when they were bundled out on 36 against Australia in the Pink Ball Test. Well, in the ongoing Bengaluru Test, big names like Virat Kohli (0), Rohit Sharma (2), KL Rahul (0), Sarfaraz Khan (0), and even Pant failed to deliver with the bat in the challenging conditions in Bengaluru.
Just moments after India’s embarrassing performance against New Zealand in the ongoing first Test in Bengaluru, Ajinkya Rahane, who was dropped from the Test team to give the opportunity to young guns, posted a video of himself batting in the nets, and it became the talk of the town.
Ajinkya Rahane, who is currently leading Mumbai in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2024-25, posted a video of him practicing in the nets while the Indian cricket team had a ready bad day in Bengaluru. Fans were quick to take notice of the timing of him posting the clip, suggesting the Mumbai skipper was openly trolling the BCCI and the team management for dropping him.
Rahane captioned the video, ‘Ready to Strike’.
Here’s Ajinkya Rahane’s viral stunt and fans’ reactions:
Ajinkya Rahane’s Test career in numbers
Notably, Ajinkya Rahane served as the vice-captain of the Indian cricket team for over five years, during which he led the side in six Test matches. The right-handed batter represented India in 85 Tests, amassing 5,077 runs at an average of 38.5 with the help of 12 centuries.
However, after a disappointing Test series in South Africa in 2022, Rahane was dropped from the Indian team. However, to everyone’s surprise, the Mumbai batter received a call-up to the team for the 2023 World Test Championship (WTC) final more than a year later.
He was subsequently included in the Test squad for the West Indies tour, which turned out to be his last appearance in the whites for the national team till now. He was not even recalled to the Indian team for the England and Bangladesh tour. Though he was going through a rough patch at that time.
