Rahane, Rohit not giving up on all-format ambitions

Kolkata: Ajinkya Rahane believes that not being a part of the limited-overs leg of India's tour of England will give him adequate time to prepare for the five-Test series to follow against Joe Root's men. Rahane is set to lead the Test side in the one-off match against Afghanistan ? their maiden Test ? in Bengaluru in early June, in the absence of an injured Virat Kohli. 

However, he will not feature in the limited-overs games in Ireland and England, an ICC

report on Tuesday said.Seeing the silver lining, Rahane on Monday said, "It is important that you get time to prepareyourself and clarity is important, when you know that you are not in the 

ODI squadand you are just going to play Test matches in England.  "I will get good amount of time for the Afghanistan Test and after that for the England tour." However, he isn't quite giving up on his white-ball aspirations. "I can tell you, (getting dropped) is actually motivating me, because I am looking to make a comeback. Right now, my focus is on Test cricket. I still believe that I can come back and do well in shorter formats with the World Cup (2019) coming up," he 

insisted.

Rahane, who scored 299 runs on his previous tour to the country in 2014, including a century at Lord's, will be an important part of the batting line-up in the Tests, which start on August 1. He is wary of the challenge, and didn't want to read too much into Paksitan's emphatic win over the hosts at Lord's.  "There will be a lot of lateral movement in June-July, and then a lot of bounce.

The Dukes ball behaves differently in comparison to the SG or Kookaburra. With the Dukes 

ball and the conditions in England, you are actually never in," he said.  "It is very hard to judge right now. Playing England in their own backyard is always a challenge. Yes, Pakistan played very well. They bowled and batted well, but there is still some time to go for our series. We can't take England for granted." While Rahane will only be playing Test cricket for India in the near-future, fellow 

Mumbai batsman Rohit Sharma's fortunes are quite the opposite. Sharma has not been picked for the one-off Test against Afghanistan, but has taken it in his stride.  "For me, I am not at a stage to worry about whether I'll be picked or not. I need to enjoy my game," Sharma said."The first five-six years of my career, it was all about 'oh, will I be picked? Will I play?' Now it's all about enjoying the game. How much can you think about those things because it keeps adding pressure on you. Instead, it's best to enjoy yourself in what you do and give your best. That's what I am trying to do."  Refusing to be labelled a white-ball specialist, Sharma said, "As a child, all 

I dreamt of was to play Test cricket and that dream will never be over because XYZ doesn't feel that way. "As a child, you only saw red-ball cricket and how important it was. It still has been the same and will never change till I stop playing cricket."  After the Afghanistan Test at home, India play two T20Is against Ireland on June 27 and 28 before heading to England for three T20Is from July 3 to 8, three ODIs from July 12 to 17 and five Tests from August 1 to September 11.(UNI)