Ajinkya Rahane managed to score a century against Sri Lanka while batting at No. 3, Former India skipper Rahul Dravid prefers the 27-year-old to bat down the order. Joining the debate over Rahane's batting order in Tests, Dravid, who was present at the launch of Aakash Chopra's book. The Indian think-tank should look at Rahane's ability to bat well with the tail and reconsider his position in the batting order.
"He's good at No. 5, or even 4, because of his ability to play with the tail-enders, the range of shots he possesses and for the opportunity he would get to face the second new ball too," Dravid in reply to the question posed by former opening batsman Chopra. He added: "At times for the sake of the team he may have to bat at no. 3, as it happened in Sri Lanka."CRICKET SPORTS NEWS
Rahane was sitting by Dravid's side on the dais when he was asked the question. Rahane, a proven performer at No. 5 in recent overseas tours, was asked to bat at No. 3 in the second and third Tests against Sri Lanka. While he scored a second innings century in a winning cause at the P Sara Oval in the second Test, Rahane failed to reach double figures in the other three innings in which he batted at No. 3.
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Meanwhile, Dravid showered Rahane with praise for showing a lot of patience and scoring big runs in domestic cricket to force his way into the Indian squad and then nailing his spot with consistent batting. "The only similarities between us that I see is that both of us had to wait for 45 years and score a lot of runs at plus 60 average in domestic cricket before breaking into the Indian team. He has many more shots than me. Ajinkya, perhaps, has been our best batsman over the last few series overseas. He has hit so many hundreds. He has great potential."
With the competition for the batting spots intensifying in the Indian team following Cheteshwar Pujara's splendid ton in the final Test against Sri Lanka, an interesting time is in the offing for Indian cricket, feels Dravid. "India has a lot of options once the injured Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay return. There is Rahane, there is (KL) Rahul, Virat himself. Rohit has hit a few half centuries recently and Pujara was exceptional. Its an interesting time for Indian cricket.
Dravid felt that in modern-day Test cricket, where emphasis is on attacking batting, the positives of rotating the strike by taking singles with the in-out field employed by most captains was equally important. "Players need to react better than what they are doing now against in-out fields
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