‘Respect senior players’, India’s just-retired batter Ajinkya Rahane says

Ajinkya Rahane was one of those classical Test batters, unhurried, compact, but capable of raising the tempo when required. Besides his impeccable Test record, Rahane also had a decent ODI and T20 career. He put his hand up when India needed him, both as a batter and captain, but as it so often happens in international cricket, he was cast aside earlier than expected.

While Rahane and his middle-order batting partner Cheteshwar Pujara were the first casualties after the WTC final loss to Australia and found themselves out of the set-up soon after, legends like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin retired from international cricket within a matter of six months or so as India suffered a whitewash series loss to New Zealand at home in 2024 and the 1-4 loss to Australia away from home in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT).

Out of the batting order that raised an entire generation in 2010s, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja are the only players left, something which Rahane believes has contributed to India’s dismal Test record over the last two years.

Speaking on the 'Stick to Cricket' podcast, Rahane said, "Test cricket fans are proper cricket lovers. New players have come in over the last two years in Tests. I still feel Test cricket needs seven to eight senior cricketers and two to three younger players. But what we are seeing now is that all the players are actually new.

"There are hardly any senior players left. Test cricket needs them. You need to respect the senior players. All the senior players going at once has been the issue," he added.

The new generation of skipper Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant are part of the Indian batting core, with options like Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Sarfaraz Khan, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy etc being tried.

After the humiliation against New Zealand in 2024, India suffered another series whitewash last year, losing to South Africa 0-2, for the first time at home since the 1999-2000 season. Standing fifth in the WTC standings with away series against Sri Lanka, New Zealand and a home series against Australia coming, the road to the WTC final looks increasingly tough for in-transition India.