Former India batter Ajinkya Rahane talked about captaining the Indian team in the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia, after the team suffered a humiliating defeat in the first Test of the four-match series and captain Virat Kohli flew back home.
India had begun the 2020-21 BGT in Adelaide with a pink-ball day/night Test and, despite doing well in the game, lost it after being bowled out for just 36 runs in the second innings of the game. Virat Kohli then left for India for the birth of his first child as planned, and vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane took over the captaincy reins for the rest of the series.
Rahane revealed that he was very nervous while taking over captaincy of the team post Adelaide Test humiliation but had to bluff his emotions in front of everyone to ensure that the nervousness wasn’t visible.
“I remember one thought in my head about when we lost the game in Adelaide and then everyone started talking about that ‘India will probably lose 4-0’ and ‘there is no chance for the Indian team. I was nervous, frankly. I will be really honest.
But as a sportsperson, you get to learn so many things, and the most important learning and the most important thing for me was to bluff in front of my teammates, bluff in front of the Aussies, and bluff in front of the media," Rahane said at an event in Mumbai, as quoted by News18.
The former Indian cricketer said that he had to maintain a brave front in front of the world.
“I remember talking to my teammates, and I said, ‘Oh, we are the lucky ones to be here representing our country. There are so many guys wanting to play for India, but at times, luck plays a massive part in our careers.
And so let us play for those guys who never got an opportunity to play for India and for those who were aspiring to play for India in the future," Rahane added.
India made a huge comeback by winning the second Test in Melbourne with Rahane scoring a century. India drew the third Test in Sydney thanks to the batting exploits of Rishabh Pant, R Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari.
The fourth and final Test was played in Brisbane, where Australia had not been defeated in a Test since 1988. India was missing the likes of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah and Hanuma Vihari due to injuries. But Ajinkya Rahane and Rishabh Pant made sure India battled like champions and went on to win the Test and the series 2-1.
