Former Indian captain and commentator Sunil Gavaskar has described Ajinkya Rahane as “a reliable player in a crisis for India” after the Test vice-captain scored a brilliant fifty to put the hosts in a good position against England after the early fall of wickets in Chennai.
India had first lost the opening batsman Shubman Gill and captain Virat Kohli for a duck and Cheteshwar Pujara cheaply for 21 runs, but Rohit Sharma (161 off 231 balls) and Rahane (67 off 149 runs) batted through the second session of Day 1 and stitched 162-run stand for 4th wicket to take India to 300/6 at stumps.
Before his 23rd Test fifty on Saturday in Chennai, Rahane was constantly failing to score runs after his hundred against Australia at the MCG, and questions were raised on his inconsistency. However, the right-hander managed to improve his batting in the second Test and took the responsibility when India was struggling.
Hailing Rahane for learning from mistakes and making contributions with the bat when the team needed the most, the legendary batsman said he is someone who scores runs on even tough pitches.
Gavaskar, while talking on Star Sports, said of what has been different about Rahane: “I think his confidence. On the left side (examining Rahane's second-innings dismissal in the first Test), you see that his head is more outside the off stump, and therefore he's not able to judge where or how the ball is going to move.”
He continued, “On the right side, you can see the foot also is going straighter, and therefore when the ball comes in for you to make that late adjustment, it becomes straighter. But when your foot is moving straighter, you can still make that adjustment. That's what he has done. That's the kind of batsman and cricketer he is, learning from mistakes. He's somebody who is such a reliable player in a crisis for India. On tough pitches, he's the one who scores runs.”
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Meanwhile, former England cricketer Mark Butcher also lauded Rahane, saying he looked a lot more assured with his footwork while calling the criticism over his inconsistency unjustified.
He further explained, “The criticism was a little bit unjustified. He got a beautiful, juicy full toss to get himself off the mark. Since then, he’s been so definite in his footwork than he was in the first Test match. We know that Rahane can sit back in the crease. He's a short man so he doesn't mind playing those cut shots outside off stump.”
Butcher signed off by saying, “He's been a great follow for Rohit. He has allowed Rohit in patches to go down the wicket in that session but Rahane was the one who kept things ticking along. If India score anywhere around 400, I think it's curtains, it'll be 1-1.”
(With Hindustan Times Inputs)
