Rahane left Kohli stranded in the middle and ran him out after a wrongly judged call for a run in Adelaide.
The huge misunderstanding between captain Virat Kohli and vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane, saw Rahane calling Kohli for a quick run in the first innings of the Adelaide Test and then leaving him stranded in the middle of the pitch, after changing his mind.
Kohli was dismissed for 74 runs, as he was leading India towards a very good total. Kohli’s wicket triggered a collapse as India lost the momentum and were all out for 244 in the first innings.
Talking about the same in a virtual press conference on the eve of the second Test at MCG, Rahane said, “It was a tough one. We were going really well at that time. After the day’s play, I went up to him and said sorry and he was all okay. Such things happen cricket, we got to move on.”
Virat Kohli has returned home to be with his wife Anushka Sharma for the birth of their first child, as he was granted paternity leave by the BCCI before the series had begun.
However, Kohli’s decision to leave despite the loss in the first Test, which came after India was dismissed for its lowest Test total of 36, triggered strong reactions from many.
Meanwhile, India made four changes to their playing XI for the Boxing Day Test. Shubman Gill came in for Prithvi Shaw. Ravindra Jadeja replaced Virat Kohli as India preferred an extra spinner while Rishabh Pant and Mohammed Siraj came in for Wriddhiman Saha, and Mohammad Shami.
Rahane also revealed that he and Kohli had a detailed discussion about plans and strategies before Kohli went back to India.
“We met Virat before he left, we had a discussion on how to go about things. He told us to play as a team and back our strengths,” Rahane added.
Rahane sounded confident of overcoming the Adelaide debacle and said, “Each and every individual in this team is really capable of doing well, so it’s really a challenge for the captain and management to select the 11. We had just one bad hour (in Adelaide). It’s about staying positive, backing your own ability and batting in partnerships.”
(Hindustan Times inputs)