While it is completely understandable to not pick Rahane in the initial 15 man squad for WC2019, it is complete Bs to pick a debutant as a replacement for an injured player in Mayank, let alone Rahane. I saw a sentence that India can't pick a team for a match like Semis (contn)

If the team mgmt was proactive, they should have picked a stabilizer who can arrest a sudden collapse. Iirc, I read it somewhere that After 2017 Ct finals, 2019 semis was the 2nd time in 3 years that all our top order went for under 20 or something (not precise)

And they picked a debutant for Vjs who was a "3d" player at first place. Our Tm thought that going in with enormous batting depth in semis with Jaddu at 8 should solve the problem but none had the ability to arrest a sudden collapse. Tat is where Jinx could have been considered

Justifying Rahane's exclusion even as a replacement by pointing at his strike rate is funny. And Rahane plays outdated cricket?. MS has been playing the same cricket whenever there was a collapse for ages. The same cricket was needed in semis.

I am not saying that if Rahane had played in Semis India would have won the game. At least India would have lost by picking the right XI and a plan. Suddenly asking your no:7 batter who was picked as a finisher to arrest a collapse in a semis is beyond explanation.

It was like asking Raina to go in at no:4 in the 2011 Wc final instead of Virat Kohli to arrest the collapse and build a partnership with GG. I am not saying that Raina wouldn't have done it or something like that. The game plan is what went missing in 2019. #cricket #Rahane