In the shifting sands beneath India’s middle-order, Ajinkya Rahane tries to stand firm. Yet, in a line-up where seemingly none is a certainty except skipper Virat Kohli, even vice-captain Rahane suffered an inexplicable omission when Rohit Sharma replaced him in the first Test at Cape Town’s Newlands in January.
Eventually, parity was restored but Rahane has suffered a lull when it came to etching Test centuries. He scored a 132 against Sri Lanka at Colombo last August and, after that, has gone through 21 innings without ever getting past the three-figure mark. In the interim, he scored three fifties but failed to extend his stints.
Capitalising on starts and making them count remains top of his agenda. Deep in the bowels of the Adelaide Oval, in a basement hall here on Tuesday, Rahane told the reporters: “In South Africa, the Johannesburg Test was crucial for me. I did well. In England, I got a couple of good starts — 81 in Nottingham and 51 in Rose Bowl. But as a No. 5, if I get good starts it is important to convert that into big hundreds. On this tour, if I get a good start I should look to score big hundreds.”
Unenviable task
Stepping in at five and with perhaps the tail to follow, Rahane has an unenviable task. So what’s the mindset of a batsman who serves as a bridge between the top-quartet and the lower-order?
“It is important how you read the situation. The Kookaburra ball here, after 30-35 overs, is relatively easy to bat; when you bat in England against the Dukes ball, you know you are never set. You have to go with a positive mindset whether you have a regular No. 6 batsman (after you) or not,” Rahane replied.
He declared that all batsmen need to contribute and not overtly rely entirely upon Kohli. “This is a team sport and Virat understands that. Each and every batsman will have to contribute and what is important is to get those long partnerships.”
Tough opponent
The vice-captain refused to read too much into the absence of Steve Smith and David Warner and maintained that Australia is a tough opponent at home.
“They have really good bowlers and when you have to win Tests, you need to have a good bowling attack. Australia are still favourites. Their batsmen are not that experienced but they are equally dangerous,” Rahane explained.