Ajinkya Rahane encashed on an opportunity to score his fourth half-century on the trot as India survived early loss of wickets to stay on course in the fourth One-Day International (ODI) here on Sunday at the Sir Viv Richards Stadium.
Rahane was on 22 when he was dropped at mid-wicket by Jason Mohammed immediately after one of his shots landed just short of Jason Holder, who allowed it to go past his legs for a boundary.
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Barring these couple of hiccups, Rahane looked solid, holding the India innings together after Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik fell early.
Rahane began well, pulling Alzarri Joseph for two boundaries in one over to get going before he got that life.
There was no urgency as he carved Joseph again for a boundary through the offside.
Rahane had been under pressure to retain his spot. After the selectors rested Rohit Sharma for this series, allowed Rahane a chance to play. And he is making good use of it, no doubt.
Rahane scored a half-century in the first ODI that was rained out and then a century in the second match which India won by a record 105 runs, their biggest win in the Caribbean.
{{/usCountry}}Rahane scored a half-century in the first ODI that was rained out and then a century in the second match which India won by a record 105 runs, their biggest win in the Caribbean.
{{/usCountry}}In the previous ODI too, he scored a fifty.
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This one makes it four fifties on the trot.
Rahane became the ninth Indian to score four consecutive fifties. Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Virat Kohli have got five successive fifties with Virat doing it twice.
Navjot Sidhu, Mohd Azharuddin (twice), Sachin Tendulkar (twice), Sourav Ganguly, Virat Kohli (twice), MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina have scored four successive fifties before this.
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“I was hungry coming into this series and I had been trying to stay fit and work on my batting during the ICC Champions Trophy,” Rahane had said after the previous match.
Rahane was eventually dismissed for 60.