India’s Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane had endured a two-year-long rough patch when he was dealing with criticism from every corner for not scoring a century.
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On the latest episode of India Today Inspiration, Rahane recalled the period from August 2017 to January 2019 when he failed to reach the three-figure mark despite hitting 5 fifties against various oppositions.
Things changed for Rahane during the West Indies tour of 2019 and he gave credit to former captain and current NCA chief Rahul Dravid for it.
"Then I think spending time at the NCA before the West Indies tour and that chat I had with Rahul bhai. He told me: 'You should go out there looking for that challenge, don't worry about getting those hundreds.' Because personally I know that I was scoring runs. I wasn't scoring those big hundreds but I was actually contributing for my team getting 70s, 80s and 90s.
"He just told me to go out there and enjoy my batting and hundreds would come automatically and that's what I did. He just said: 'You are a good player; just keep yourself calm while batting. You don't have to prove to anyone. Just go out there and be yourself.' From then on I have been just trying to play fearless cricket, think about the situations, be aware of what's going on in those particular moments and react accordingly.
"When I was getting out in the 70s and 80s I was actually thinking about my 100, my personal milestone. A lot of times it happens that you are close to a hundred on 80-odd and you start thinking about playing cautiously. So at some level, my game used to get affected, my attacking instincts were getting suppressed. But now even if I am in the 90s, if the ball is there to be hit I will hit it. If the hundred is to come, it will happen," Rahane explained.
On that West Indies tour, Rahane emerged as India's match-winner scoring 271 runs as the No. 1 side started their World Test Championship campaign with a 2-0 whitewash.
After being overlooked from India’s World Cup 2019 squad, Rahane had signed a deal with English County Club Hampshire. Although he had a mixed outing in his maiden stint, Rahane admits that playing County Cricket has indeed been a life-changing experience.
"I thought I had spent my time really good at Hampshire. It was not all about cricketing experiences but also on my off-days I used to walk alone with a cup of coffee in my hand and I used to think about how I used to play in my younger days when I made my debut in the Ranji Trophy. So I actually went back and the answer that I got was to play fearless cricket. To back my instincts; I wasn't thinking about results or outcomes. That's what was happening during those one-and-a-half years when I was thinking about results," he remarked.
