Ajinkya Rahane, the man who has a decent track record of scoring runs in overseas Tests, is yet again under the spotlight but this time, he is getting praised for his leadership skills as well.
The Mumbai batsman took over the captaincy duties after Virat Kohli headed back home on paternity leave. He had an extra burden to pull out the team from the horrors of Adelaide debacle. While many suggested no scope of a comeback for India, Rahane took the opportunity to prove them wrong.
His courageous 12th Test ton at the Melbourne Cricket Ground turned the fortunes of the team, seeking perfect revenge from the Aussies and levelling the series 1-1.
Throwing light on Rahane’s preparation for this uphill task, his coach and former Indian cricketer Praveen Amre said that his disciple was on his own at the nets before leaving India.
“Ajinkya was on his own (during practice sessions). He knew what he was doing and he was asking my throw-down person to bowl him in this and that area, he wanted to practice for this type of a balls,” Amre was quoted as saying by Sports Today.
The former cricketer went on to reveal that Rahane took many blows on his body as he knew about facing such situation Down Under.
“He made sure that he will have less reaction time when he was going to prepare in those practice sessions. He was ready to take the blows on the body because he was aware that there will be sessions in Australia where he has to take blows on his body to survive that session,” Amre further said.
“I think that’s what he did before going and I was really glad to see how he was preparing, because Ajinkya’s story is that he was successful only because he prepared really well before each and every tour,” Amre added.
After crushing the Aussies by 8 wickets in the Boxing Day Test, India is gearing up for the third match of the series which is scheduled to begin from January 7 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.