Ajinkya Rahane stood as the rock well and was upfront as a captain in the absence of Virat Kohli and led India to their historic triumph over Australia in the latest Border-Gavaskar trophy.
On Wednesday during a virtual conference Rahane said that he would prefer to take “back seat” be Kohli’s deputy when Kohli is there to captain the team. India will play four Tests against England and the results will decide their spot in the ICC World Test Championship.
“My job is to take a back seat and help Virat. My job is really easy now. When Virat asks me about anything, I will tell him. Virat was the captain and he came back for family reasons. So I was the captain in Australia,” Rahane said during a virtual media conference on Wednesday.
The vice-captain also said that the win in Australia is now a history for him and looking forward to the series against England.
“Australia is past. We are in present. We respect the England side which has won a Test series in Sri Lanka. We want to play good brand of cricket and we are not taking anything for granted.”
“The WTC final is three-four (five) months from now. The focus should be on present series. New Zealand played really well and deserved to be in the final. For us, it will be about taking one game at a time,” Rahane mentioned.
He zipped his lips while asked the fate of left-arm orthodox spinner Axar Patel in the playing 11.
“We will decide on the playing combination after tomorrow’s training,” he said
“The Indian wickets always have something for spinners. We will back our strength. Let’s wait and see,” he added.
New Zealand have already reached the ICC World Test Championship’s final while India hold the second spot.
