In a career-defining performance, Ajinkya Rahane slipped effortlessly into the big shoes of Virat Kohli, both at the No 4 batting spot and as captain, helping India script history in Australia by retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The performance of the Indian team will go down as one of the glorious tales of world cricket, with Rahane’s men being spoken about in the same breath as the great entertainers from the West Indies, Frank Worrell’s team of 1960-61. Like Worrell’s men, they took Australia by storm with their daring brand of cricket; playing with both grit and flair, playing both hard and fair.
The reserved and soft-spoken Rahane led the team aggressively and astutely: “It was a challenge as well as a responsibility, and I thought it was the best opportunity for me to stand up, send that message, he said.
On the recent historical win against Australia, he says, It feels really good. It has just started to sink in that what we did in Australia was really special. I am really proud of each and every member of the team. It's not about any individual, it’s a team effort. Everyone played their part pretty well. Credit to every member of the team for this victory.
Sharing his emontions of the final day of the match, he says that On the first hour of the final day, we were thinking of playing normal cricket, not thinking about the total we had to chase; just play one session at a time and then assess again. We got a good partnership between Cheteshwar Pujara and Shubman Gill. When Shubman got out and I walked in, I thought I should carry on that momentum and play freely and if I can get 30-40 quick runs here, then we have a game on our hands, and (then) see what happens. I told Cheteshwar to continue to play his normal cricket, but I will look for runs. If I can carry on, if we have to chase 150-160 in the last session in 38 overs, it is quite chaseable. That’s what happened. That partnership between Pujara and Shubman set up the game. Then Pujara and Rishabh’s partnership and then Rishabh and Washington’s partnership.
(With inputs from agencies)