Skipper Ajinkya Rahane concentrated hard as his unbeaten 86 off 197 balls took Mumbai to 237 for four against Rest of India on a weather-curtailed opening day of the Irani Cup. The veteran of 5000 plus runs in 85 Tests, who is not on national selectors’ radar, dug deep into his reservoirs of concentration to keep Mumbai on even keel against an impressive duo of Mukesh Kumar (3/60 in 14 overs) and Yash Dayal (1/46 in 15 overs). Shreyas Iyer (57 off 84 balls) and Sarfaraz Khan (54 batting, 88 balls) were tad a more adventurous in trying to get a move on in the 68 overs of play possible on Tuesday.

In fact, Rahane played the second fiddle during his 102-run fourth wicket stand with Iyer after Mukesh had reduced them to 37 for three in his first spell.

At stumps, Rahane had the company of Sarfaraz and the duo had 98 runs for the fifth wicket and would like to consolidate on the second day.

For someone, who has 12 Test hundreds in his 40 first-class tons, Rahane wasn’t exactly very assertive during his stay at the wicket. He has so far hit six fours and a six over long-off off left-arm spinner Manav Suthar’s bowling.

He did hit a few crisp boundaries through off-side but overall never looked like on top of the ROI bowling.

In fact apart from that six and a boundary, Suthar kept him quiet with only 22 runs taken off 58 balls bowled by the Rajasthan spinner.

Against Prasidh Krishna, he faced 38 balls but managed to score only seven runs.

While a century would do no harm to his reputation but Rahane, whose brilliant leadership during the historic 2021 series win in Australia is a part of Indian cricketing folklore, would need to dominate domestic attacks if he remotely harbours any hope of getting a national recall.

In fact, Iyer was more attacking against the lanky Karnataka speedster hitting him for five out of his half a dozen boundaries.

The two sixes — one each off pacer Mukesh and off-break bowler Saransh Jain — were treat to watch before Dayal prised him out.

Sarfaraz took on Suthar and got three boundaries off the left-arm spinner.

Young India batter Yashasvi Jaiswal is 132 runs away from scripting history in the ongoing cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC). Jaiswal is expected to open the batting, alongside captain Rohit Sharma, in a two-match Test series against Bangladesh, starting September 19 in Chennai. Jaiswal, who has has 1028 runs in the World Test Championship 2023-25, eyes a place in the history books when India take on Bangladesh in the series opener. If the 22-year-old scores 132 runs across the two Tests, he will become the Indian batter with the most number of runs in a single edition of the WTC.

He will overtake former India captain Ajinkya Rahane who scored 1159 runs in the WTC 2019-21 cycle. For the unversed, Jaiswal is just one of the three Indian batters, alongside Rahane and Rohit, to score 1000 runs in a single WTC cycle.

Yashasvi Jaiswal looks to go past Joe Root

Meanwhile, Jaiswal is joint-second in the WTC 2023-25 scoring charts, tied with England Ben Duckett on 1,028 runs.

However, he needs just 371 runs to top Joe Root at the top, with the latter currently leading the race with 1,398 runs.

The Indian cricket team currently leads the WTC standings with a points percentage of 68.52. Their upcoming WTC series include Bangladesh (two Tests at home), New Zealand (three Tests at home), and Australia (five Tests away).

Bangladesh team is also in top form, having whitewashed Pakistan 2-0 to win their first Test series on Pakistani soil. The team secured a commanding 10-wicket victory in the first Test followed by a six-wicket win in the second.

India’s squad for the 1st Test of the Bangladesh Test series: Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Dayal.

Bangladesh squad: Najmul Hossain Shanto (C), Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Zakir Hasan, Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Litton Kumer Das, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Nayeem Hasan, Nahid Rana, Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed, Syed Khaled Ahmed, Jaker Ali Anik.

Former Australia captain Allan Border has called for The Gabba cricket ground in Brisbane to be knocked down and be replaced by a new stadium build from scratch which can cater to hosting multiple sports for 2032 Olympics. The iconic Gabba stadium has been a fortress for Australia, though India defeated them at the venue to complete an unforgettable 2-1 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series win in January 2021. The Queensland government recently abandoned a 2.7 billion dollars plan to demolish and rebuild the Gabba for the 2032 Olympic Games.

Instead, it has invested that amount in upgrading the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre (QSAC), Suncorp Stadium, and the Gabba. “I’d be knocking down the Gabba and building a new venue from scratch at Victoria Park. A brand new 60,000-seat stadium suits rugby, cricket, Aussie rules, and the Olympics, and the Gabba becomes housing,” said Border to The Courier Mail.

Moreover, after an independent review, a 3.4 billion dollars proposal to construct a new oval stadium at Victoria Park was also rejected by the Queensland government. The uncertainty around the Gabba has been so high that Brisbane is likely to be absent from Australia’s schedule of hosting Test matches for the next seven years.

“They haven’t got any certainty about the Gabba, so we’re off the roster. It’s sad, but they’ve got to have some certainty, probably over the next four years, if they can use the Gabba or not.

“Because we have an election coming up, nobody wants to touch the hot potato of announcing where the main venue would be. But I’ll have a crack and say knock the Gabba down for urban renewal, and because it’s on the city fringe, you could probably pay for the Olympics just by selling the property,” added Border.

Meanwhile, former Australia wicketkeeper-batter Ian Healy said Cricket Australia is anxious about the future of hosting cricket in Brisbane ahead of state elections happening in October this year. The third Test of this year’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy between Australia and India will be held at the Gabba from December 14-18.

“After India and the Ashes, the next season there are only three Tests (against New Zealand) and we’ve missed out, as you do because the newest stadium is the Adelaide Oval that holds more than ours. Other governments are investing in that, and I think the other states are investing in a seven-year rotation and Brisbane’s stuck.

“It’s frustrating Cricket Australia because they just can’t talk to either side of our government because our state is shut down until after the election (on October 26). It’s a bit scary for our stakeholders, Cricket Australia is quite anxious about the future of Brisbane cricket. So, let’s hope we get our wicket front and centre, and Australia gets some victories,” said Healy on SENQ Radio.

India have had some great results in Australia in the last few years.© Twitter