India’s senior-most batsman in the test side Ajinkya Rahane finally rose to the occasion as he notched up a ton in the final session of day 2 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Former India opener Aakash Chopra like every other Indian today has too heaped praise on Ajinkya Rahane’s incredible knock right when it was the need of the hour for the Indian side.
India didn’t have the most ideal start as Mayank Agarwal was dismissed for not in the very first over of the innings. In the followup, it was Cheteshwar Pujara and Shubman Gill who led the charge early on in the innings as the two got past the 50 run mark. But as soon Shubman Gill departed for 45 Pujara too ended up giving up his wicket, both to Australia’s leader of the pace bowling attack Pat Cummins.
Ajinkya Rahane then led the Indian batting as he finished with a century knock at the end of day two. Rahane wasn’t the only one doing the scoring as All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja also stepped in to chip in runs in a 100 run century stand between the duo.
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This is as good as you will see Ajinkya Rahane bat: Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra while speaking to ESPNCricinfo praised Ajinkya Rahane’s knock regarding it one of the best knocks from the Mumbai Batsman. He further added how Rahane walked into this tour with not many runs in his baggage, which is why this knock will bear the utmost importance in his career.
Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Aakash Chopra said, “Ajinkya Rahane is batting beautifully, absolutely top class. This is as good as you will see Rahane bat. He has batted with some amount of authority and control.”
“He has battled those short pitch problems he had against New Zealand and he was troubled at that time. He was struggling against the barrage of short-pitch stuff. Sometimes you are mentally broken by that and it takes time to bounce back- he had a middling IPL as well. So he hasn’t come into this tour with runs under his belt,” Aakash Chopra added.
Meanwhile, India are currently at the driver’s seat with an 82-run lead. They will hope to take a mammoth first-innings lead and bowl out Australia to level terms in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.