On Friday, during the final of the World Test Championship (WTC), Ajinkya Rahane came agonizingly close to scoring a century to celebrate his comeback to the Test cricket scene after an absence of two years.
His knock was the main performance in an otherwise uninspiring Indian innings in which just three batsmen scored more than 15 runs each. Despite the fact that he fell short of reaching three figures by 11 runs, his knock proved to be the standout performance.
If India is successful in avoiding loss in a match in which they are outplayed by Australia with both the bat and the ball, it will be primarily down to the performance of a guy who, up until very recently, had been deemed to be surplus to India’s needs. Australia is now the team with the highest ranking in the world.
Since his last participation in a test match 18 months ago, former Indian vice-captain Rahane has fallen out of favor with the selectors. The only reason he was selected for the WTC was because Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant were unable to play because of injury.
But the 35-year-old player showed that he is not a spent force by staying out for hours under the scorching heat and playing his 83rd Test despite having a damaged finger, even if his teammates on the opposite end of the field came and went quite quickly.
Rahane still had faith that India could turn things around despite the difficult job that was in front of them, despite the fact that Australia still had six wickets in their possession as they looked to set a massive goal after finishing day three with a lead of 296 runs.
At pitchside at The Oval, Rahane observed, “Frankly speaking, Australia is slightly ahead in the game,” as he had his injured finger glued.
“We need to focus about what’s happening right now and take it one session at a time. We don’t want to go too far ahead of ourselves here. The opening hour of tomorrow’s competition will be highly important.
“As a bowling team, if you play well, anything may happen. We are well aware that unexpected occurrences are possible in our game; yet, the key is to be present and have faith in our capabilities.
I am still of the opinion that seam bowlers will benefit from bowling on this pitch.
Both sides decided to go with a four-pronged pace attack for the championship match, but it was the Australian bowling unit of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Scott Boland, and Cameron Green that was able to generate more pace and bounce from the pitch. As a result, they were able to take nine Indian wickets between them and cause a significant amount of discomfort for the other side, both physically and mentally.
In the morning session on Friday, Shardul Thakur (51) received several body blows to his arm from consecutive Cummins deliveries. Rahane acknowledged that India did not reach their goal score.
“The collaborations with Ravindra Jadeja (48) and Shardul were very necessary. We aimed for a score between 320 and 330, but all in all, I believe we had a successful day,” Rahane remarked.
In spite of the fact that Australia ended the day with 123 runs scored in their second innings, Thakur was adamant about emphasizing that the game was not yet out of reach.
According to Thakur, “You can never say what the correct total is… who can handle the pressure better out there – one good partnership and you can even chase down 450 or maybe even more than that.”
“The previous year, England attempted to score 400 here… so that’s a good indicator. In a game of Test cricket, we often see a turnaround in the match within the space of one hour. When we go the field tomorrow, we will try to maintain a positive attitude.