Triple ton not enough as Nair loses out to Rahane

KARUN Nair’s triple century in his previous Test was not enough to secure his place in the India team for their one-off match against Bangladesh beginning at Hyderabad today.

Replacing an injured Ajinkya Rahane, Nair smashed 303 not out in India’s last Test match in Chennai to help secure the team’s 4-0 series victory over England in December.

With Rahane having recovered from the finger injury that kept him out of the last two Tests against England, Nair will now have to wait at least until the home series against Australia to play his fourth Test.

“I feel one game does not overshadow two years of hard work from another player,” India captain Virat Kohli said yesterday.

“You need to understand what Jinks (Rahane) has done for the team over the past two years. He averages almost 50 in this format and is probably the most solid batsman in the team in the Test format. We look at him from that point of view certainly.

“Karun was stepping into his shoes and what he did was remarkable... but you can’t overlook two years of hard work from Ajinkya. He deserved to walk back into the team whenever he got fit.”

Currently the top Test team with a formidable home record, India are overwhelming favourites in the oneoff match against a side eight rungs lower in the rankings.

Bangladesh are handicapped by their limited Test exposure and the team managed to lose a Test match in Wellington last month despite scoring almost 600 in their first innings.

It was yet another instance of their batting inconsistency, but Kohli refused to be complacent. “It’s an equal battle, you can’t discount Bangladesh batting,” he said. – Reuters