Ajinkya Rahane upbeat of India avoiding follow-on

Ajinkya Rahane watchces the ball after his mistimed pull

Despite India trailing England by 246 runs with just 2 wickets remaining in the first innings, Ajinkya Rahane is backing his skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Mohammed Shami to take India beyond the follow-on target of 370.

"MS and Shami are still batting. If we can bat well in tomorrow's morning session, then anything can happen. It could still become an interesting match. Cricket is a funny game," the 26-year-old said after the third day’s play.

"We are not thinking of the second innings at all at this stage. After losing a few wickets we have managed to recover quite well thanks to our captain. We are not safe but in an okay position now. If our captain and Shami do well tomorrow, then probably we will do well," stated a cautious Rahane.

Disappointed with his dismissal

A lot of Indian batsmen got set but wasted their starts to leave India in a spot of bother. As was the case of Rahane and Rohit Sharma, as they added a promising 74-run 5th wicket stand before both gifted their wickets to Moeen Ali trying to put away poor deliveries. Rahane targetted the deep-midwicket boundary but perished by mistiming the ball that lobbed up for an easy catch at mid-wicket. Commenting on his dismissal, the Mumbai batsman said that he was disappointed, before admitting that it was indeed a bad shot.

"I was really disappointed in the manner I got out. I was concentrating really well at that point of time. I thought it was a loose delivery and played it, but the shot was a miscued one. In the end, it was a bad shot. I just need to learn from this and bat well in the second innings,” the right-hander who scored a century in the last Test match at Lord’s said.

On whether they had any plans to target Ali, he said: "No, we had decided to play one ball at a time and capitalize on the loose balls. We were going along well, but in cricket, anyone can take anybody's wicket. So unfortunately Rohit got out and then I too played a bad shot.

"The England bowlers bowled well today. They were patient on a pitch that didn't show too much wear and tear. When the ball was old, the pitch seemed to be a little two-paced. But with the new ball it is coming easily on the bat still. So they bowled consistently and in good areas today.”