Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket Players
'If you're trying to find masala, you won't get it,' Ajinkya Rahane on questions over change in captaincy
At the pre-match virtual press conference ahead of the 2nd Test, Rahane was asked if he believes that the body language of the team went down in the first Test due to a change in captaincy.
India vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane on Friday insisted that Virat Kohli is the captain of the team and will remain in the future. Questions have been raised on Kohli's captaincy since Rahane led India to a series win as captain in Australia in his absence. Kohli returned to take over the captaincy in the first Test against England which the hosts lost by 227 runs.
At the pre-match virtual press conference ahead of the 2nd Test, Rahane was asked if he believes that the body language of the team went down in the first Test due to a change in captaincy.
Also read: Here's what Ajinkya Rahane had to say about the recent controversy on Wasim Jaffer
"There are moments when you don't have that energy but that doesn't mean that it has happened because of a change in captaincy. As I have said earlier, Virat is our captain and will remain our captain."
"If you are trying to dig in and find some 'masala' (controversy), unfortunately, you will not get it. Look, body language can be a bit down at times and the wicket was such in the first 2 days, it could be because of that. There could be many reasons," Rahane said.
Rahane also hit back hard against the criticism levelled at Cheteshwar Pujara for batting slow. The India middle-order batsman said that no one in the team questioned Pujara's performance.
"See no one questioned his batting approach in the team and that's what matters. What people talk outside doesn't matter to us," Rahane said.
"We know Pujara's role in the team. The way he played in Australia and the way he played now, it's really important for us. We back him completely. He has played 80 odd Test matches and knows his game really well, no one questioned his ability or how he batted in Australia," he added.
Rahane further said that India need to accept the mistakes that were made in the first Test and do better in the 2nd Test which begins from Saturday.
"At times when you lose, you tend to delve deep into the reasons and that brings in negativity and it's not your fault but you still start blaming yourself.
"What happened in the last Test, we need to accept...We need to move on and the endeavour should be on how to do well in all departments of the game," he signed off.
(With PTI inputs)
