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Ajinkya Rahane has asked his Indian teammates to play aggressively and upstage South Africa in the upcoming Freedom Series. Speaking to BCCI.tv, the 27-year-old spoke about the brand of cricket which the team would like to exhibit and the advantages of playing at home.
After focusing on their skills in the five-day preparatory camp held at Bengaluru, the Indian team underwent an extensive military-grade endurance camp in Dharamsala, the venue for the first T20 which will be played tomorrow. Displaying excitement and optimism with every cricketer steadfast on sharpening his prowess, the mood in the Indian camp was certainly upbeat.
“We want to dominate South Africa and play positive cricket. We are here to win the series. We have had good practice sessions in Bengaluru and now we have a few to go in Dharamsala. We are getting used to these conditions and it is going to be very exciting,” Rahane said.
The diminutive Mumbaikar has carved a niche for himself by playing quite a few valuable knocks for his country. He recently stated that he relishes the challenge of batting in different positions. Rahane also gave an insight on the thought process of the team management regarding adjusting the batting order, depending on the situation.
“In this team we all believe that anyone can bat in any batting position. Everyone’s goal is to do well for the team and do well for the country. Whatever the captain and the management asks us to do, to play a certain role in the team, we are on it. For me, the team comes first and then myself. Whatever position the team management will ask me to bat at, I will bat at that position,” a confident-sounding Rahane said.
Raina echoes Rahane’s thoughts
Rahane’s partner in the middle order, Suresh Raina too echoed similar thoughts when talking about the upcoming series.
“South Africa might be under pressure because they would know that playing at home we are an aggressive and dangerous outfit. We have set high standards for ourselves and we are training really hard before the start of the series. We have almost had close to a week of preparations in the lead up to the first match and we are improving our individual games. We want to give it our best and win games for Team India. That is the motto right now in the dressing room and we are all excited to play against South Africa,” Raina said.
The 28-year-old acknowledged, however, that the series against South Africa will test their fortitude and ability to withstand pressure.
“It will be a good challenge to play against South Africa and we need to respect our opponents. They are a very good side and players from both sides have played a lot of matches together in the IPL. Both sides bank on playing calm and aggressive cricket. We have players who have always done well under pressure and I would say this series will be a challenging one. We need to concentrate on the process and keep things simple,” Raina stated.
The Freedom Series begins with the 3-match PayTM T20 Trophy on Friday. It will be followed by 5 ODIs and 4 Tests.
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