In a welcome sign for India and their fans, vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane has returned in the nets just a week away from the first Test against England. As per BCCI and the team management, Rahane missed the warm-up first-class game against Select County Xi in Durham due to swollen hamstring.
Along with him, Virat Kohli too missed the game and he reportedly was going through back pain. Injury concerns to the topmost Indian batsmen prompted the BCCI to consider reinforcement of the batting department for the series.
Rahane has played 11 Test matches in England including a World Test Championship final against New Zealand. He has not been able to pile on big runs and mustered only 620 runs across 22 innings at a substandard average of 29.52 and with the help of four fifties and one century.
Rahane had a magnificent start to his career in England as he had scored a brilliant hundred on a green top at Lord’s in 2014. However, he could not maintain his form overseas from the first series in 2014 and could not manage big runs in the last series in 2018.
Rahane has been a mainstay of India’s abetting in the longest format in his 74-game long Test career and has amassed 4,647 runs at an average of 41.12. He has scored 12 centuries and 23 half-centuries across 125 innings.