Advertisement

Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav are quality players, important to back them: Ajinkya Rahane

Pandey remained the prime choice for Virat Kohli heading in for the Australia series, but he has so far done bare minimum to cement his place into the squad for the World Cup 2019. With scores of zero and three, Pandey remains a big concern for Virat and his plan towards a versatile squad.

Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav are quality players, important to back them: Ajinkya Rahane PTI

New Delhi: Everything has been falling right in its place for the Indian cricket team – consecutive ODI victories on the trot, skipper Virat Kohli breaching milestones both with the willow and with the captain's armband...barring one – the No. 4 puzzle. And batsman Ajinkya Rahane believes that with constant team support Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav can bounce back to strike big scores.

Manish Pandey found himself lucky following his ravishing run in the India A series and simultaneously, Yuvraj Singh's poor run with the willow in the Champions Trophy and Windies tour. And with MSK Prasad looking to give opportunity to newer faces to create a formidable side for the Cricket World Cup 2019, Pandey along with KL Rahul had a chance to prove their worth.

Rahul was giving the No. 4 spot in the Sri Lanka ODI series but with scores of 4, 17 and 7 in three matches, he was dropped from the fifth game. Jadhav stepped in for him in the final game and amassed 63 runs. Pandey on the other hand notched up a gritty fifty in the fourth ODI.

Pandey remained the prime choice for Virat Kohli heading in for the Australia series, but he has so far done bare minimum to cement his place into the squad for the World Cup 2019. With scores of zero and three, Pandey remains a big concern for Virat and his plan towards a versatile squad.

Even Jadhav has been struggling in the ODI format. He was indeed part of the Champions Trophy squad where he proved his worth for with the ball than with the bat. In the Sri Lanka series however, twice he deceived by Akila Dananjaya's wrong 'uns. In the Australia series, he scored a rather impressive 40 in the first ODI but fell for three in the next one.

"They just played two games, they did well in Sri Lanka. The team management is backing them, said Rahane at a pre-match presser in Indore. "Manish and Kedar are quality players and it's important to give confidence to your players. It happens to professional players. Sometimes you score runs, sometimes you don't. It's important to back them. They're great players and team management is backing them."

Rahane also threw light on a variety of topics like the versatality that the selectors and Kohli is looking for. The opener said, "It's mentally. The good thing about this team is anyone can bat anywhere. I bat at 4, 5, 1 and it's important how you visualize that situation and how you handle it. It's completely in your mind, if you can adjust in your mind, you can adapt anywhere."

Team India will take on the Australians at Holkar Stadium, on Sunday, a win with which they can seal the series in their favour.