Would that Ajinkya Rahane had been present today.- Sunil Gavaskar evaluates the way India batted against South Africa.

The Rohit Sharma-led team finished on 208/8 on Day 1 of the first Test match against South Africa in Centurion, despite the Indian hitters finding it difficult to get going. While players like Virat Kohli (38) and Shreyas Iyer (31) received starts but were unable to convert them, KL Rahul was the lone warrior with the bat, finishing the day with an undefeated 70. However, Shubman Gill faltered once more on a challenging surface, and as a result, concerns about India’s batting in foreign conditions have returned.

Regarding this, former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar mentioned Ajinkya Rahane feats from five years prior under similar circumstances, adding that things might have turned out differently if he had been present on Boxing Day.

The 35-year-old can bat in difficult circumstances, which makes him a good player in foreign surroundings, according to Sunil Gavaskar. “I was at the Johannesburg Test five years ago, and the pitch has been spoken about a lot. Yes, the odd ball was climbing up, and it wasn’t the simplest pitch to bat. And when Ajinkya Rahane was selected for that match—having not been selected for the first two Test matches—he demonstrated what the Indian team had been missing because, in the preceding couple of Test matches, India had not lost by significant margins.

“So maybe someone with Rahane’s experience overseas… because Rahane overseas has been such a fine, fine player and maybe the story could have been completely different if he had been there today,” Gavaskar remarked in a Star Sports commentary.

Notably, Shreyas Iyer replaced Rahane on the test team. Following the latter’s injury sustained during the West Indies series and the World Test Championship, the batter, who was born in Ashwi, was called up to the national team and assigned the captaincy for the bilateral series. Rahane was once again dropped from red-ball cricket, though, after he was unable to secure a spot in the starting XI.