‘Don’t think Ajinkya Rahane can be called a crisis batter’: Sanjay Manjrekar on Mumbai batter

With his fighting knock of 89 in the Indian team’s first innings in the World Test Championship final against Australia, Ajinkya Rahane may have restored some semblance of respectability in their total, but former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar believes that calling the Mumbai batter a ‘crisis man’ is too far fetched for now.
After Australia had posted 469 in the first innings, the Indian team were 71/4 at one stage when Ravindra Jadeja and Rahane resuscitated the total with a 71-run partnership. He then combined with Shardul Thakur for a 109-run partnership. Rahane, who had a stellar showing in the Indian Premier League for the eventual champions CSK, was handed a comeback into the team after over a year outside.
READ: How a small technical tweak and strong mindset powered Ajinkya Rahane’s 89
Rahane was eventually dismissed for 89 when Cameron Green took a screamer off Pat Cummins’ delivery. India ended up scoring 296 in the first innings, and would have been easily much further behind had it not been for Rahane.
“I don’t think Ajinkya Rahane can be called a crisis batter. There’s another innings to go, the crisis has to be averted in a way that you either draw or win the game. But this innings, solely on the kind of odds… he’s done brilliant,” Manjrekar told ESPNCricinfo.
“To call him a player in crisis… he has played an odd innings, but the old Ajinkya Rahane would follow it with low scores. Who knows, the new Ajinkya Rahane could be the Test batter 2.0. Maybe, he can carry it in the second innings as well,” the former India batter further said.