Ajinkya Rahane has always made himself counted when the team has been in testing situation which is a testimony to his class as a batsman, feels second Test centurion Rohit Sharma.
Rohit and vice-captain Rahane added 162 runs for the fourth wickets as India scored 300 for 6 at stumps on the first day of the second Test.
“Ajinkya, he is one of our top players. He has done extremely well and played some crucial knocks (over the years). He has time and again shown that when the team needs a batsman to stand up, he has done that many times,” Rohit was all praise for his fellow Mumbaikar, who scored 67 on the day.
No doubt their stand was crucial in the context of the match and Rohit acknowledged that.
“Three wickets had fell before lunch and at the time he came to bat, it was crucial for us to build a partnership. We have seen many times, when the team need runs, he (Rahane) has shown his batsmanship and made runs in difficult times,” added Rohit.
Rohit was slightly annoyed that there were even talks about Rahane’s form since he didn’t get runs in seven successive innings.
“I don’t understand why these talks take place? But, anyway, his knock was very important for the team at that point and our partnership was also necessary for the team and we took the team to a comfortable position till tea, because I believe 350 will be a good score on this wicket,” added Rohit.
Rohit expects Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel to bat as long as possible.
“We still have four wickets left and we hope that the batsmen who are currently batting (Rishabh) Pant and Axar (Patel), make as many runs because already the rough patches have been created.”