Ajinkya Rahane played a masterful knock to help India’s innings endure longer than even it would have expected on Day 3 of the World Test Championship (WTC) final at The Oval in London on Friday.
India had resumed the third day on 151-5 and was 152-6 after two balls, when Srikar Bharat was removed by Scott Boland.
Rahane, after 18 months out, led India’s fightback across two days with a team-high score of 89, his best in 2 1/2 years. The innings was a blessing for India and a triumph for Rahane in his comeback test.
Rahane was dropped after a mediocre tour of South Africa in January 2022, the back end of a year in which he’d scored only three fifties in 15 tests. He justified himself domestically. In the Indian Premier League he averaged 32 with a strike rate of 172 and made key contributions in the title run by Chennai Super Kings just 10 days ago.
Rahane, who turned 35 on Tuesday, 71 with Jadeja which settled down a reeling India; and a rousing 109 with Shardul Thakur that lifted their spirits.
Rahane and Thakur were willing to step inside the line and take painful body blows. Australia also gave them several lives. Rahane was crunched on the fingers and right ear on Thursday, and hit on the fingers again on 71. Rahane was given out on 17 but Australia captain Pat Cummins overstepped, survived on an umpire’s call on 53, and was dropped on 72 by Warner.
It took a brilliant one-handed catch by Green at gully to prise him out. Rahane thick-edged Cummins and Green somehow plucked the snorter out of the air behind him at full stretch.
After the end of day’s play, Aussie pacer Mitchell Starc said Ajinkya Rahane showed how to bat on a seaming pitch.
“He played really well. We know Jinks can play innings like that; we’ve seen it through series before. He came in at a tough time to bat and managed to, along with Thakur as well, to absorb some pressure there and build an innings and played really nicely," said Starc.
“So, it took a special catch to get him out and certainly that partnership was one that sort of prolonged our bowling innings I guess but I think they both played pretty well.
“Jinx probably was a little bit more you know - waited for the bad ball and built his innings and then built a nice partnership. So, we know what a good player he is and he’s done in the past and hopefully we can get him out early in the second innings."
The left arm pacer had dismissed Virat Kohli with a snorter on day two. With the pitch playing tricks, he felt he got lucky.
“From that far end I struggled to find some rhythm. I just went back to trying to run in and hit the wicket. I managed to find a bit of extra bounce and found the thumb. So, yeah, nice one to get," he said.
Starc added that it was a good toss to lose for Australia.
“It (pitch) is certainly showing more signs of inconsistency as we go on obviously. It seems to be a good toss to lose. But yeah, I think obviously with the weather that we’ve had and the weather that’s coming up, it might play some more tricks.
“I felt like we all, sort of our group, certainly felt like bowling from the far end we didn’t quite have the same rhythm as we did from the pavilion. And so, I certainly felt like the other end was uphill into the wind and just played a part in not being able to find that rhythm.
“So, bowling from the pavilion certainly felt a lot freer and we all felt a bit better today. Might just play a few more tricks as the game goes on," he added.
(With inputs from Agencies)