AJINKYA RAHANE’S TOP 5 TEST INNINGS
The most dependable Indian batsman currently and certainly India’s best batsman in overseas Tests, Ajinkya Rahane brings the same sigh of relief which used to be feel by the presence of Rahul Dravid at the crease. His compact technique along with his ability to adapt in all conditions makes him a successful Test batsman all over the world. The Mumbaikar so far in his short Test career has already shown that he has a perfect temperament for Test Cricket and has amassed 1619 runs in 40 innings with 6 centuries and 7 half-centuries. Rahane has played only 5 Tests in India out of the 22 Tests that he has played so far in his 3-year-old Test career and still managed to have a healthy Test average of 44.97. Out of the 6 hundreds that Rahane has made so far 4 of them have came away from home and out of those 4 (away from home) 3 of them have came outside the sub-continent. Ajinkya Rahane turns 28 today, CricBol brings you Five of the best knocks played by Rahane in his glorious little Test career so far:
(1) 103 vs England at Lord’s : – English Skipper Alastair Cook won the toss and put India to bat first on a green-top, it was so green that everyone were finding it difficult to differentiate between the Lush outfield and the strip. As expected every Indian batsman struggled to get going but as they say “when the going gets tough the tough gets going”, Ajinkya Rahane stood up tall to rescue India and scored a magnificent ton (103 runs) to propel India to 295 in the first inning against an attack comprising of James Anderson and Stuart Broad. Rahane’s herculean effort with the bat gave India the historic victory at Lord’s after 28 long years.
(2) 127 vs South Africa at Kotla :- It was a series so difficult for the batsmen that only 2 tons came in the entire 4 match Test series and guess what both the hundreds were scored by none another than the ever so stylish Ajinkya Rahane. India were reeling at 139 for 6 in the first inning of Delhi Test before Rahane got the support from Jadeja and Ashwin. But at the end of the day, it was his 127 which made the difference, and took India to the very good first inning total of 334, India won the match by a huge margin of 337 runs.
(3) 147 vs Australia at Melbourne :- This was the inning overshadowed by the genius of Virat Kohli’s 169 but Rahan’e effort was no lesser than Kohli. In this inning he took on the short pitch barrage of Mitchell Johnson with so much courage and authority and played some jaw dropping strokes all around the wicket throughout the inning. The match was high scoring and the eventual outcome was draw.
(4) 126 vs Si Lanka at Colombo :- After losing the first Test of the series at Galle in a dramatic fashion, India were needed someone to show character in the 2nd Test and that’s exactly what Rahane did at Colombo in the 2nd Along with Vijay, Rahane added 140 runs for the 2nd wicket partnership, which helped India set Sri Lanka a target of 413 runs in the 4th inning. India won the game by 278 runs.
(5)118 vs New Zealand at Wellington :- First Test ton is always the special one and that was no different for Rahane as he scored his first Test ton outside the sub-continent against an attack comprising of Southee and Boult. Having bowled New Zealand out for 192, India were looking to post a mammoth first inning total and were struggling at 165/5, then Rahane joined Kohli at the crease. Firstly he added 63 runs with Kohli for the 6th wicket partnership and then 120 runs for the 7th wicket partnership with MS Dhoni. Rahane was the second last batsman to get out but not before making his graceful and elegant looking first Test ton which propel India to a mammoth first inning total of 438 runs. Brendon McCullum’s marathon inning of 302 in the second inning ends the match in a draw.