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'Take out the last 10-15 matches': Ajinkya Rahane's reply to questions over his form
Ahead of the second Test match against England, the India vice-captain with a deadpan expression referred to his scores of 59 and 115 against the Proteas in that 2019 series.
In this rapid-moving world of social media, opinions and perceptions change fast. India vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane who was the cynosure of all eyes after leading India to a 2-1 series win in Australia is suddenly being questioned about the lack of a big score since his hundred in Melbourne. Rahane, however, asked the critics to refresh their memories by going about 10-15 innings.
Ahead of the second Test match against England, the India vice-captain with a deadpan expression referred to his scores of 59 and 115 against the Proteas in that 2019 series. "It's all about the team and not the individual and my focus is how can I contribute for the team. If you take out the last 10-15 Test matches, you will see some runs over there.
"I don't need to think about what's happening on the outside," the vice-captain, who has scored around 1000 runs in his last 15 long-form game, said.
Rahane also pointed out that the first Test against England, which India lost by 227 runs was a home game after a long gap.
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"See we are playing at home after two years. Our last home series, was against South Africa. If you take (the scores of that series) out, you will find something over there,"
It was a different Rahane, someone who was not ready to take a backward step when faced with difficult questions.
When a scribe asked if the drooping shoulders and negative body language in the first Test were due to a change in captaincy, he was far from amused.
"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." The answer was pretty similar to what Kohli gave when asked about Rahane's form and the captaincy factor.
Ditto when asked about a change in approach from Cheteshwar Pujara after his defensive batting in Australia, which earned a lot of praise from pundits.
"See no one questioned his batting approach in the team and that's what matters. What people talk outside doesn't matter to us," Kohli's deputy whacked the delivery straight into the stands. "The way he played in Australia and the way he played now, it's really important for us. He has played 80 odd Test matches and knows his game really well, no one questioned his ability," he said.
The key factor, according to Rahane, is not over-analysing a defeat which can lead to a negative mind-set. Asked what exactly do players mean when they say that "we have to regroup", he replied, "Regrouping is addressing concerns but not tending to over-think.
"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."
(With PTI inputs)
