India vs Australia, Brisbane Test: Captain Courageous - How Ajinkya Rahane Conquered Gabba

Ajinkya, fittingly means invincible. Captaincy was not meant to be his and he will soon play second fiddle once again. But the mantle fell on his shoulders after Virat Kohli left Australia on paternity leave. Rahane took over as India sunk to its lowest ever total of 36 runs in the Adelaide Test.

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Expectedly, the team was quickly written off and a whitewash was predicted by the cricketing greats. But that was not to be. The Dombivili boy was destined to script history. The series win is inarguably, India’s biggest victory outside the two World Cups in 1983 and 2011. Bigger than Leicester winning the English Premier League in 2016 and it was like Argentina winning the 1986 World Cup without a Maradona. India breached Gabba after 32 years. No single hero in this triumph. There are many. Every innings from Melbourne to Sydney to Brisbane had its own share of new heroes. In the process, the team beat Covid and a series of injuries. It didn’t matter if India was without Virat Kohli and frontline bowlers. And Rahane led the heroic fightback.

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In the second Melbourne Test, Rahane had his task cut out, to both salvage self-esteem and hold the team together in a time of grave crisis. And Rahane did it his own way. No flamboyancy, no cussing. No sledging. He won it with a smile. A smile that endeared him to both the Australians and the Indians back home.

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No one would have blamed him for losing the series. Instead, Rahane was destined to lead India to one of its greatest ever Test series victories. The smiling assassin chose the difficult path. He played to win by leading from the front in the second Test at MCG with his captain’s knock of 112, levelling the series. No looking back for India after that turnaround innings.

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On the final day of the decider fourth Test, most of India was praying for rain and some good luck, leading to a draw. But not the new Captain Cool. The intent was evident from young Subhman Gill’s fluent 91. Victory on his mind, Rahane he set the tone by scoring a breezy 22.

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Rahane is calm and composed and plays to his strengths. A thinker in the MS Dhoni mould who marshalled his depleting resources magnificently. He not just trusted young, rookie players like Rishabh Pant, Gill, Siraj, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur and Natrajan, but backed them fully.

He's not combative in the Sourav Ganguly, Virat Kohli mould, but he is a shrewd captain which was evident from his bowling changes and field settings. With his band of boys, Rahane snatched victory from an experienced Australian team, that boasts some of the best batsmen and the most lethal bowling attack in the world. He was calmness personified when Australia was raining body blows on his mates. His message to his team and new India -- Bruised or battered, why be nasty when you can kill them with your smile

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Rahane last led India as a stand-in captain when Australia toured in 2017. He won the match and India, the series. He has an enviable scorecard as captain, with four wins and one draw. He has played 69 tests, scoring 4471 runs, averaging 42.5, with 12 centuries and a high score of 188.

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After leading the team to its greatest win, Rahane didn’t jump in joy and throw his fist into the air. He simply lifted the Border-Gavaskar trophy and quietly handed it over to the junior-most member, T Natarajan as Dhoni had after winning the World Cup in 2011. And before that, he knew he had to honour Nathan Lyon who was playing his 100th Test. Gentleman to a fault, that’s Rahane for you.

• Ajinkya Rahane
• australia
• Birsbane Test
• India
• India vs Australia
• India vs Australia 2020
• Mohammed Siraj
• shardul thakur
• Shubman Gill