Fri. Mar 29th, 2024
Ajinkya Rahane

Initially, Ajinkya Rahane was not included in the Champions Trophy team. However, now he is proving the selectors wrong. His performance in the first three matches against the West Indies can tell that he is in ultimate form. He is enjoying a big share in India’s victory having one century and two half-centuries in his basket. And this has made his place permanent in the playing-11 for the rest of the matches.

However, Kohli said that Rahane is a third choice opener, that is, Rohit Sharma will have the opening position as soon as he joins the team. Though Rahane has no problem with this and said that he doesn’t mind moving up and down the order. He said,  “I don’t mind moving up and down the order. I am happy to play whatever role is given to me. I’m not at all thinking of the next series or the next big event. I am focussed on the next match.”

After being dropped from the Champions Trophy team, Rahane said that he was focusing on his fitness and game. He told, “When I was not playing in the Champions Trophy (2017), I was focusing on my fitness and my batting. It’s always good to learn something new. I was confident about myself. It was a matter of good runs and scoring consistently. I’m grateful for this opportunity. I thank the team management for it. I was in England and I wanted to work hard on my fitness. During the IPL season, we didn’t get time to work on our fitness.  Luckily we had that time during Champions Trophy and that comes in handy when the conditions are this hot.”

When asked about his slow knock and low strike rate, Rahane said, “I am an instinctive player, I love to attack, but at the highest level you have to adapt. For example, the wicket here is very different from the one in Trinidad so I had to slow things down. There was plenty of uneven bounce. We had to take our time. But as a rule, I practice all shots in the book. I can make up for slow starts with innovative shots and I can make it count.”

By Naman