India's off-spinner R Ashwin has praised stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane after victory in the second Test. The visitors were counted out in the absence of Virat Kohli, but they crushed Australia at home with ease.
India was not in a good position in the Test series after losing the first Test in Adelaide, which featured their lowest total in a Test inning-36. Ashwin said the team took the first Test match's defeat out of mind to move forward and give their best in the next match.
"The best thing that we did was just walk away from that game -- in Adelaide -- and we said that it was just one of those unfortunate days and the batting unit definitely did take responsibility for it. Most importantly, losing Virat was not easy but the discussion we had around it and the team-building exercises that we did through that phase from Adelaide to Melbourne was very crucial and Jinks was very, very calm and balanced which gave many of us the launch-pad to go out there and express ourselves after that defeat," Ashwin said in a video posted by BCCI.
"Many of us have played for a while now and we have had some special wins but if I had to pick one that would be extremely special is this one for a lot of reasons. This team minus Virat, the batting giant that India had over the last decade or so, is not that easy and Jinks stood up and that is one of the finest cricketing knocks I have seen," he added.
Rahane was picked as the Man of the Match for his outstanding batting display. He scored a hundred in the first innings and remained unbeaten in the second to take India home without giving any chance of comeback to the Aussies.
India batsman Cheteshwar Pujara rates the win among the top five in his Test wins.
"I think this will definitely be in one of the top five victories I have been part of and the overseas victories are always special. The way Jinks batted in the first innings, and also in the second innings, and also the way bowlers bowled after losing Umesh, we were only left with four bowlers but they bowled their heart out. All the guys wanted to win. We were really hurt after the first loss and now the series is level," Pujara said.
India's all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja knows the value of this win and said they would like to continue the momentum from this match further in the series.
"This is going to be a special victory for us as a team because we were one down. In the first game, we lost badly. So, I think we came with a good spirit and attitude and as a team, we played very good cricket. Everyone is looking in good form, batsmen are scoring runs, bowlers are taking wickets. Hopefully, we continue the same momentum and hopefully, win the next game," Jadeja said.
The third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will be played on January 7 at the SCG. Currently, both teams have won one game each.
(With Inputs from ANI)
