India’s stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane on Sunday (December 27) played one of the best Test hundreds of the history in the ongoing Boxing Day Test against Australia in Melbourne while trying to recover his team from a devastating defeat in the first Adelaide Test.
At the heavily in favor of the world's best fast-bowling attack Australia the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Rahane showed an epitome of skills, patience, resolute defense, determination, and bloody-mindedness to play a true captain’s knock of 112 runs off 223 balls with 12 boundaries to his name.
The right-hander came to bat when Team India were reeling at 3/64 and went on to bat throughout the day, adding very crucial 50 runs with Hanuma Vihari and Rishabh Pant followed by a 121-run stand with all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja for the sixth wicket to take the team to 326.
Following his impactful century, cricket legends and fans have been praising Rahane for his game awareness and his ability to take control of the game even in tough situations at the MCG.
Praising Rahane, Australia spin great and commentator has described his captain’s knock as one of the best oppositions captains knock on the Australian soil and went on to call it one of the greatest Boxing Day hundreds given the difficult track, the situation of the game, and the quality of the bowling.
Warne told Fox Cricket about Rahane’s knock: “As far as hundreds go, they all just say one in the hundreds column, but some are better than others and that will go down as one of the all-time great Boxing Day hundreds from Ajinkya Rahane.”
He continued, “Given the conditions, given the situation of the game, given the quality of the bowling, the way the pitch has nipped around, put all those into the mix. That’s where the stats don’t change, it just goes down as one hundred but it’s a lot more than that.”
Warne signed off, “I can’t say enough about what a quality hundred this is. Absolutely outstanding from Rahane, the Indian skipper. I’m sure Virat Kohli is sitting back in India, feeling very proud of what this Indian team have been able to do without him and how well Ajinkya Rahane has done.”
(ANI inputs)
