Former India pacer Zaheer Khan feels Ajinkya Rahane, who did not find a place in India's playing XI for the ongoing second Test in Mumbai owing to a minor hamstring strain, is not under pressure despite not being able to score runs in the longest format of the game lately. With Virat Kohli returning to the playing XI for the second Test, and the emergence of Shreyas Iyer in Test cricket, Rahane could find himself behind in the pecking order. The likes of Suryakumar Yadav are also ready to pounce on any given opportunity and cement their place in the team.
However, Zaheer Khan feels Rahane is not under pressure despite his recent poor run.
Despite agreeing that India has massive bench strength, Zaheer feels Rahane can still make a comeback in the team even if he gets dropped from the team for a while.
"If you're unfit, then let it be. It's not like if you get dropped from the team, you'll not get chance(s) to make a comeback. But, yes, it's difficult to get chances in this Indian team," Zaheer said during an interaction on Cricbuzz.
"You have to look at the bench strength and the talent the Indian team has got. Even the domestic players are pushing forward to make a claim. So, the players who are part of the Indian setup, they know that they have to perform consistently to remain in the team," he added.
Both Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara's positions in the Indian Test team has been under scanner this year after their repeated failures with the willow.
In the last two years, Pujara averages 20.37 and 30.42 while Rahane has managed 38.85 and 19.57 in the purest format of the game.