'Rahane is one innings away from regaining form'

Indian vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane's struggle against spin bowling has been well documented in the past one year but his teammate Cheteshwar Pujara is confident that he will soon wriggle out of trouble.

Last year, Rahane had struggled against England’s now retired left-arm spinner Zafar Ansari and off- spinner Moeen Ali and his woes continue against Sri Lanka’s Dilruwan Perera. The Mumbai batsman has not been able to break the slow-bowler code with a wretched run of form, save the 132 runs at Pallekele earlier this year.

However, Pujara is confident that Rahane is only one innings away from regaining his lost touch.

"Rahane is a class player. Obviously, this is the time when he is not scoring but he is someone who will be back in form soon. His work ethics are remarkable and I am very sure that going forward, he is one innings away.

"The moment he gets a big score, he will be back in form and be quite a useful player for the Indian team," Pujara said when asked about Rahane's struggle for the past one season.

The fact that the rival teams are dissecting Rahane's apparent weakness against spinners was accepted by Sri Lankan bowling coach Rumesh Ratnayake.

"We have watched with the software we have. We have discussed about him and we have executed that," said Ratnayake.

However, there is a possibility that Rahane will have less uncomfortable time during the upcoming tour of South Africa as he is one Indian batsman with the best average in overseas conditions where he will be facing more of pace than spin. 

IMAGE: Ajinkya Rahane

Photograph: Scott Barbour/Getty Images