Published: Dec 25, 2020, 02:11 PM (IST)
Edited: Dec 25, 2020, 02:11 PM (IST)
The loss in Adelaide was just ‘one bad hour’ after two days of domination which ‘doesn’t mean that the players or the team are bad’, says India’s stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane ahead of the second Test beginning Saturday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Rahane is standing in for regular skipper Virat Kohli who has returned to India to attend the birth of his first child.
Ahead of the much-anticipated Boxing Day duel at MCG, all eyes will be on Rahane who will be expected to lead from the front in absence of Kohli. Rahane was heavily criticized during the first Test in Adelaide as well when he was blamed for running his partner Kohli out. The latter was approaching his first century of the year and was looking firmly in control of his 74-run innings. However, a small misjudgment led to Kohli’s departure. Rahane was criticized for tracking back after making a call that caught Kohli way out of the crease.
“It was really tough, we were going well at that moment. The partnership was going well and good. I could see the momentum going towards Australia. After the end of the day’s play, I said sorry to him. He was okay,” said Rahane during the virtual press conference.
“We both understood that the situation we were in, we were going well at that point, but such things happen in cricket, you got to respect that and you got to move forward.”
After Kohli’s departure, India failed to seize the momentum and managed to score a below-par 244 in the first innings. In the second innings, an inexplicable batting collapse occured because of which India crumbled to their lowest Test score of 36 in their second innings.
The 32-year-old Rahane admitted that the run-out handed Australia the momentum as they recorded an eight-wicket win inside two and half days. “It was a really tough one, obviously we were going really well that moment, our partnership was good, and I could actually see that momentum going towards Australia after that run-out,” Rahane said.
Kohli, who has now returned to India for the birth of his first child, had backed Rahane to lead from the front in his absence in the remainder of the four-match series. “I have said this previously as well that I feel like this is his (Rahane’s) time to really step up and perform strongly as an individual and then as a captain as well,” Kohli had said.
“I think, he will do a great job when I am gone back home, so we are on the same page completely and the vision remains simply to put in good performances and make sure that we are competing every game and the idea is to win the series,” the batting maestro had said.
The Indian team had a get-together and a team dinner before Kohli left Adelaide for India. Kohli gave a pep-talk.
“We met Virat before he left Adelaide. We had our team dinner. He spoke to all the boys and said, ‘just be yourselves, play your game as a team’. He asked all of us to stay positive, play to our strength and just play as a team and as a unit. That is what we were doing all the year, it is all about that. All about the strength, playing for each other, enjoying each other’s success.”
