Opener batsman Rohit Sharma praised India’s vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane for his crucial contribution after the end of Day one in Chennai. Both Rohit’s and Rahane’s forms were questioned previous; today both of them steered the ship when India were tottering at a vital juncture.
“Ajinkya is one of our top players. He has done extremely well, played quite a few crucial knocks. He has time and again proved his ability by stepping up when the team needs someone to do so. He has done it so many times” Rohit told the press.
Rahane has been inconsistent with the bat over the past 2-3 years at home. But he has bailed the team out of the troubles so many times.
“Today also, we had a crucial partnership because we lost 3 wickets before Lunch. He walked into bat at a crucial juncture. We had to build a partnership. We have seen many times he has made runs, shown batsmanship in difficult times. I don’t understand why there is discussion (about his batting form). His knock was very important and our partnership was also very important for the team,” he added.
The Chepauk pitch offered turn and bounce that helped the spinners to get early breakthrough. Shubman Gill and captain Virat Kohli departed without scoring a run. But both the Mumbaikars roped the innings and helped India to pile up runs.
“We constantly kept chatting with each other and that, I think, was important to our long partnership. We have a good understanding of each other as we have played a lot together. So, it helped us,” Rohit said during the virtual match press conference.
“We made sure the team was in a comfortable position at Tea because, on this wicket, 350 is a very good score. We still have 4 wickets. We will hope Pant and Axar can bat longer and score as many runs as possible. We know the wicket will turn a lot from Day 2. There are already rough patches on this pitch,” Rohit added.
