"You need to respect your senior players": Rahane speaks on India's Test woes over last two years

Former Indian cricketer Ajinkya Rahane opened up on India's Test downfall in the past two years, saying that the longer format demands that seven to eight seniors are a part of the team, and senior players leaving one by one has become an issue for the two-time World Test Championship (WTC) finalists.

Former Indian cricketer Ajinkya Rahane opened up on India's Test downfall in the past two years, saying that the longer format demands that seven to eight seniors are a part of the team, and senior players leaving one by one has become an issue for the two-time World Test Championship (WTC) finalists. Rahane, who recently announced his retirement from international cricket, was speaking on the 'Stick to Cricket' podcast. Since India failed to capture the ICC World Test Championship crown in 2023, Team India has moved on from its senior players slowly.

While Rahane and his middle-order batting partner Cheteshwar Pujara were the first fatalities after the WTC final loss to Australia and found themselves out of the set-up soon after, legends like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin retired from international cricket within a matter of six months or so as India suffered a whitewash series loss to New Zealand at home in 2024 and the 1-4 loss to Australia away from home in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT). During these series, Rohit, Virat and Ashwin declined in their form and ahead of the new ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle, they hung up their whites one by one. Fast forward to August 2026, all the aforementioned legends mostly stand retired from international cricket, except Rohit and Virat, who are still playing as ODI-exclusive legends.

Out of the batting order that raised an entire generation in 2010s, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja are the only seniors left, with the latter increasingly making a case to play as a specialist batter instead of an all-rounder. The new generation of skipper Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant are part of the Indian batting core, with options like Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Sarfaraz Khan, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy etc being tried.

After the humiliation against New Zealand in 2024, India suffered another series whitewash last year, losing to South Africa 0-2, for the first time at home since the 1999-2000 season. Standing fifth in the WTC standings with away series against Sri Lanka, New Zealand and a home series against Australia coming, the road to the WTC final looks increasingly tough for an under-transition India. Speaking on the podcast, Ajinkya said, "Test cricket fans are proper cricket lovers. New players have come in over the last two years in Tests. I still feel Test cricket needs seven to eight senior cricketers and two to three younger players. But what we are seeing now is that all the players are actually new."

"There are hardly any senior players left. Test cricket needs them. You need to respect the senior players. All the senior players going at once has been the issue," he added. The two-match Test series against Sri Lanka will get underway with the opening game at the Galle International Cricket Stadium from August 15 to 19, before the teams move to Colombo for the second Test at the Sinhalese Sports Club from August 23 to 27.

India's squad for the Test series against Sri Lanka is: Shubman Gill (Captain), KL Rahul (Vice-Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sai Sudharsan*, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Devdutt Padikkal, Saransh Jain and Auqib Nabi. *Subject to fitness clearance. (ANI)