India batter Ajinkya Rahane impressed one and all with his grit and resolve on Day 3 of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 Final against Australia at The Oval.
Rahane, who was making a comeback to the Test team after 18 months, took multiple body blows and called for the physio on many occasions but didn’t let his guard down.
After India’s top-order collapsed badly, the classy right-hander went on to score 89 and added 109 runs for the seventh wicket with Shardul Thakur (51) to take the team’s first innings total to 296 in reply to Australia’s 469.
During his knock, a couple of hits to the hand were of particular concern for Rahane, who was taken for tests on a finger that he has fractured previously in his career. However, the positive news for India is that Rahane will be able to bat in the fourth innings.
"It was painful but quite manageable," Rahane told ICC after the close of play on Day 3.
"I am really happy with that way I batted. We had a good day today, the partnership with (Ravindra) Jadeja and I and then with Shardul (Thakur) and myself was really crucial.
"We were aiming to get 320 or 330 (runs), but I think overall we had a pretty good day. Bowling wise we bowled really well in the second innings. Everyone bowled really well.
“(We’ll take it) session by session. We don’t want to look too far ahead, but we’ve seen funny things happen in this game," he added.
During his 89-run knock, Ajinkya Rahane also breached the milestone of 500-run mark in Test cricket. He achieved this feat in his 83rd Test match.
Notably, Rahane was recalled to the Test side after Shreyas Iyer’s back injury opened a middle-order slot. The right-hander was dropped from the Test team in 2022 following an extended lean patch but he had a decent Ranji Trophy 2022-23 season, amassing 634 runs from seven games at an average of 57.63 while leading Mumbai.
Coming to the WTC final, Australia were 123/4 in their second innings at stumps on Day 3, stretching their lead to 296 runs with Marnus Labuschagne (41*) and Cameron Green (7*) unbeaten in the middle.
