In the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League, Ajinkya Rahane has often cut a confused figure.
He was not meant to be the captain of the Rajasthan Royals side, but he was anointed the leader a few days before the season.
He was not meant to be the aggressor at the top of the order in the powerplay, but D’Arcy Short’s poor form forced him to playing an attacking game that isn’t natural to him.
But then Jos Buttler was moved up the order and that gave Rahane the freedom to play his natural game – that of an accumulator – but he has either ended up playing long innings that were slower than what his team required or ended up getting dismissed playing the big shot when he doesn’t have to anyway.
Confusion. That one word, perhaps, sums up Rahane’s past few months as a cricketer.
Let’s do a quick recap, see if you can stay with us here:
It all started when MS Dhoni, in the last few days as India captain, said Rahane cannot bat in the middle order in limited overs format because he has a problem rotating the strike when there is no pace on offer.
He continued in the middle order for a few more tours. And then when he got a good run of games as the opening batsman against New Zealand at home in 2016, he struggled to make the most of it. He did not feature in the Champions Trophy, but got a chance again as opener in West Indies when he scored runs but struggled to get the big, match-winning scores.
He came back to India, had a fantastic series as an opening batsman against Australia but that only convinced Virat Kohli that he is the back-up opener in the current set-up, given Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan’s recent form.
In the meantime he was starting to struggle with the red-ball in Indian conditions (more than he has traditionally struggled) and ended up losing his place in the Test side as well in South Africa, despite having the reputation of India’s best overseas batsman.
But that all changed again when he played well in the third Test, and soon, he was back in the ODI lineup again - but this time at No 4 – a position that India have had trouble with - and not as a backup opener. It started off well for him, as he made a stylish 79 in the first match but followed that up with 11, 8, 8 and 34*.