ENG vs IND: Ajinkya Rahane declares he is fully fit for the 1st Test

Ahead of India’s first Test against England in Nottingham, which starts on August 4, the Indian vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane came ahead and cleared the air around his fitness. The Mumbai batter had missed India’s warm-up match which took place in Durham against a county XI. Batting at no.5, he will be key to India’s plans of winning the series in England.

In the pre-series press conference held on Monday, August 2, Rahane explained that he is fully fit now and the injury which kept him out of the warm-up match was merely a niggle. He feels he is prepared completely for the series and has had some good practice sessions.

Completely ready and fit to play: Ajinkya Rahane

“I had a small niggle but I’m fully fit now. Whatever the physios and trainers asked me to do, I completed that in the training sessions. I’m looking forward to the Test match. I’m fully prepared. Preparation has been really good so far for me. Even though I didn’t play the warm-up game, I was practising on the sidelines. I had a couple of good practice sessions. Completely ready and fit to play,” Rahane said.

With Ajinkya Rahane fit to play, India will have his experience to go with in the first Test. In 2018, he played two crucial knocks at the Trent Bridge in Nottingham, in the only Test which India won in that series. However, India will miss the services of opening batter Mayank Agarwal, who was hit on the helmet during the practice session in Nottingham.

Speaking on his injury, Rahane further said that the team management will soon take a call on who will now open with Rohit Sharma, given that Agarwal is set to miss the first Test. There are reports which suggest KL Rahul will now open with Rohit, but the management hasn’t revealed anything as of now. Apart from Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran is also in the squad with Prithvi Shaw yet to reach England.

Coming back to Rahane himself, there has been some criticism against his batting record in recent times. Despite being India’s leading run-getter in the ICC World Test Championship cycle 2019-21, he would be looking to shut down all the criticism with some scores in this Test series.