Ajinkya Rahane's place in Indian team questioned after another failure in home Tests

India's vice-captain in the purest format of the game, Ajinkya Rahane's woeful time with the bat continued as he was dismissed for a three-ball duck in the second innings of the India vs England 1st Test. The hosts are chasing a massive target of 420 and a spectacular effort was needed from the Indian batsmen to hunt the target. However, the England bowlers were too good as they decimated the Indian batting order in the first session on Day 5.

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Fans slam Ajinkya Rahane for consistent failures with the bat

Much was expected from Rahane who is the side's vice-captain but the batsman failed to deliver once again. The Mumbai-based batsman has been in dismal form since India's Test assignment in Australia. Besides scoring a sensational century in the second Test against Australia in Melbourne, Rahane hasn't played a single innings of substance. Rahane's poor run of form continued even in the India vs England 1st Test as he managed scores of 1 and 0 in the first and second innings respectively. 

Twitter was abuzz after Rahane failed to perform when the team needed it the most. Several reactions poured in as fans slammed the cricketer and also pointed out his inconsitency with the bat. A certain section of fans also backed KL Rahul to replace Rahane. Here's how the Twitterati reacted to yet another Rahane failure.

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Ajinkya Rahane career stats

The Rahane career stats in Test cricket make for an decent reading. The right-hander has represented India in 70 Tests where he has amassed 4472 runs at a decent average of 41.79. Rahane has scored 12 centuries and 22 fifties in Test cricket. The Mumbai based cricketer has been immensely successful on overseas tours, however, he hasn't been able to replicate the same form and class at home on a regular basis. 

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India vs England live score update

At Stumps on Day 4, India's scoreboard read 39/1 with the hosts needing another 381 runs on the final day. The Day 5 began on an awful note for the hosts as they lost Cheteshwar Pujara early who was dismissed by Leach for 15. Shubman Gill (50), Ajinkya Rahane (0) and Rishabh Pant (11) departed soon after courtesy of Anderson's sensational bowling. Washington Sundar was also caught behind off Dom Bess' bowling for a duck.

At the time of publishing this article, India's scoreboard read 179-8 with Virat Kohli dismissed for 72 by Ben Stokes. India have a herculean task in front of them to survive the final day on a difficult Chepauk pitch which is turning and bouncing like nobody's business. England, on the other hand, need just 2 wickets to go 1-0 up in the series.

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SOURCE: BCCI.TV