Veteran Ajinkya Rahane is taking over the captaincy of the Indian team in the first Test match of the series against New Zealand. In this Test match (IND vs NZ 1st Test), however, his performance was not special and he was able to score a total of 39 runs in both innings. In this Test at Green Park, Kanpur, Ajinkya Rahane was victimized by Ejaz Patel in the second innings and he returned to the pavilion after scoring only 4 runs. Former Indian cricketer Pragyan Ojha said on Rahane's poor performance that he is not mentally disturbed, but there is a problem with his footwork.
Right-handed batsman Ajinkya Rahane has done poorly with the bat in the current year and averages below 20 in Tests. So far in this whole year, he has not even scored a century with his bat. Even before this, many former cricketers have also pointed to his footwork. Pragyan Ojha said that when a batsman's footwork is not right, he will be in trouble. He told Cricbuzz, 'Don't think that Ajinkya Rahane is mentally disturbed, but his footwork is an issue considering the technical part. This has not been true and many former cricketers have also pointed this out. When your footwork is not good, you can get into trouble.
He also said that after failing in the first Test, the pressure of scoring runs on Rahane will increase. Ojha said, 'Shreyas Iyer has scored a century in his debut Test. There is also Hanuma Vihari who is knocking on the door for entry in the team. The pressure is always there but it increases when you become a senior batsman. When you know a junior batsman has come and scored a century on debut. There is someone like (Hanuma) Vihari who scores well whenever he gets a chance.
Pragyan Ojha said that Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson put pressure on Cheteshwar Pujara. He said, 'Saudi and Jamieson put Pujara under constant pressure. They knew that Pujara could not understand whether the ball was coming in or going out. Pujara was thinking about how to play the pitched balls. This shows how well New Zealand has planned. They know which strategy to use.