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Ajinkya Rahane not upset after being axed from India’s T20I squad

With eyes on the 2019 World Cup, Rahane expressed satisfaction with the whole team’s performance.

Ajinkya Rahane not upset after being axed from India’s T20I squad

Indian batsman Ajinkya Rahane (Photo: AFP)

Indian cricketer Ajinkya Rahane, who missed out from India’s T20I squad despite performing well against Australia, is not much discontent with the fact and ready to accept the selectors’ decisions with open arms.

“Yes, so much cricket we play, the team management, selectors take a decision and we respect it,” Rahane said during a clean drive on a street near the Mumbai Cricket Association’s Bandra Kurla Complex.

The 29-year-old Maharashtra lad lost the competition to openers Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul, who carved their place in the squad. However, Rahane takes the competition in a positively and feels it helps a cricketer honing his skills.

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“Speaking about competition, it is necessary and it helps you to give your best performance. Whoever gets a chance does well for the team. I have always enjoyed the competition (among players),” Rahane said.

Rahane remained the most consistent batsmen in the recently concluded five-match ODI series that India won by 4-1. He scored four consecutive half-centuries, piling up 244 runs in five matches.

“The responsibility and the opportunity I was given, the way I was supposed to bat, I did. Definitely, I am happy with the form I have carried from the West Indies tour, I have made four consecutive fifties,” he said.

Having said that, the right-hander feels there is always a scope of improvement and he would have converted those fifties into hundreds for better results.

“I could have converted the fifties into hundreds. It was in my mind to contribute, I shared three 100-run stands with Rohit (Sharma) and our aim was to give a good start to the team. In the future series if I get a chance I will convert the 50s into 100s,” the promising cricketer added.

With eyes on the 2019 World Cup, Rahane expressed satisfaction with the whole team’s performance.

“It is a proud moment for all of us. Our aim is 2019 World Cup and we are going in that direction. For that we have to play series by series and match by match, the aim of this team is to win every match and series, and we always try to improve,” Rahane said.

India squad for T20Is: Virat Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Manish Pandey, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (WK), Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel.

(With inputs from agency)

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