Ajinkya Rahane was overlooked for the first two Tests against South Africa

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

There has been a lot of debate about why India batsman and vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane has been left out of the playing XI for the first two Tests against South Africa.

Rahane hasn’t been in the best form as of late and was subsequently overlooked in favour of Rohit Sharma.

However, Rohit has failed to have a major impact with the bat in the first two Tests as he has scored 78 runs at an average of 19.50.

When asked about the whole situation involving Rahane, Shastri refused to give a straightforward answer on why the 29-year-old has been snubbed.

“That [debate] will always be the case,” Shastri was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. “If Ajinkya had played first and not done well, you would have asked me the same question, why Rohit hasn’t played.

“Rohit played, he didn’t do well, you are asking me why Ajinkya didn’t play.”

Shastri gave a similar response when questioned about why pace bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar made way for Ishant Sharma in the second Test in Centurion.

Since Kumar had been one of India’s best performers in the first Test in Cape Town, people were left scratching their heads over why he was dropped for the second Test.

“The same would have happened with the fast bowlers,” Shastri said. “So when you have choices… the team management has discussed what is the best option and they stick by it, they go by it.”