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I Am Happy People Are Talking About Me: Ajinkya Rahane On Constant Scrutiny Of His Form
India Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane said that he is happy that people are always talking about him, as he believes people talk about important people. This was in reply to a question on the constant scrutiny of his batting form.
Rahane has not scored a century since his MCG 2021 heroics but has been a contributing factor here and there in India’s journey to the final of the World Test Championship’s previous edition. He was once again under fire along with Cheteshwar Pujara after both failed to score in the first Test against England in Nottingham.
However, the duo came good in the second innings of the second Test at Lord’s, adding a century stand after India had lost three early wickets. India won the Test ultimately by 151 runs on day five thanks to heroics from the India pacers and went 1-0 up in the 5-Test series.
Cheteshwar And I Have Been Playing For Long, We Know How To Handle Pressure And Certain Situations: Ajinkya Rahane
Ajinkya Rahane on Monday said that he is not too bothered about the constant scrutiny around his form in the longest format as people always talk about important players.
“I am happy people are talking about me, I always believe people talk about important people. I am not too concerned about that, it is all about contribution for the team. Cheteshwar and I have been playing for long, we know how to handle pressure and certain situations. We are not concerned about them, we are focusing on the team. We just want to contribute for the side, whatever we cannot control, we are not thinking about that,” said Rahane while replying to an ANI query during a virtual press conference.
Rahane struck a vital 61 runs in 146 balls, while Pujara made 45 adding 100 runs for the 4th wicket in the second innings at Lord’s. The duo battled Anderson, Wood, Curran, and Robinson with gusto as the England bowlers looked to gain an advantage.
“My innings was really satisfying in the second Test, I always believe in contributions and for me, I always think about the team. That knock of 61 in the Lord’s Test was really satisfying. It was all about hanging in there, communication was all about thinking about small targets and building on from there. We always talk about Pujara playing slow, but his innings was really important, he batted for 200 balls. We backed each other, I thought communication was really good. We knew 170-180 could have been a very good score on that wicket,” said Rahane.
Playing For Country Motivates Me A Lot: Ajinkya Rahane
Ajinkya Rahane has 4714 runs in 76 Tests for India with 12 centuries and 24 half-centuries at an average of 40.63. His best score is 188 and he has scored a century in each innings of a Test match as well.
“Everything motivates me, playing for country motivates me a lot. I am not bothered about criticism. People only criticise important people, I am happy they are criticising me, I only focus on controllables. Team performance is the ultimate goal, you think about your plans and methods, but ultimately it is all for the team. We just focus on that,” Rahane added.
India will play England in the third Test at Headingley, Leeds starting on August 25.
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The post I Am Happy People Are Talking About Me: Ajinkya Rahane On Constant Scrutiny Of His Form appeared first on CricketAddictor.
