Ajinkya Rahane finally hitting the right note with the bat

On the New Wanderers pitch that seemed to have demons in it for the batsmen, Ajinkya Rahane's flourishing knock of 48 was surely an awe-inspiring one.

Batting at close to run-a-ball on a pitch where the batsmen found it extremely difficult to get bat on the ball, Rahane's aggressive approach had the Proteas on their back foot.

Virat Kohli and team management's decision to drop Rahane in the first two Test matches of the series was strongly criticized by many ardent followers of the game.

Given Rahane's splendid away record especially in South Africa, the criticism seemed to be justified.

Dreadful 2017

For Ajinkya Rahane the year 2017 was surely a dreadful one as he scored just one century in Tests and was often dropped from the side in the latter half of the year. His batting in 2017 was plagued by technical issues like misreading the line of the ball, playing away from the body and lack of feet movement. But as the revolutionary South African leader Nelson Mandela once said - "You either win or you learn", Rahane's failures in 2017 would have only made him stronger technically and temperamentally. Rahane's stats last year -

Ajinkya Rahane just scored a single century in 2017

Ominous start to 2018

Ajinkya Rahane's fans had their fingers crossed when he came out to bat in the first innings of the third Test match. Any batsman struggling with form wishes a flat, batting friendly wicket in order to regain the lost confidence. But Rahane got an absolute opposite of it - steep bounce, lateral movement and South African bowlers in a great rhythm. He had a torrid time in the middle and managed to score just nine runs before getting out LBW to Morne Morkel.

Although the pitch had deteriorated further in the second innings, Rahane came out to bat with a positive frame of mind and showed no signs of nervousness or fear.

Let us look at a few positives from his batting in the second innings -

# Feet Movement

In cricket, it is often said the batsman's feet movement says a lot about his form and confidence. It also means that the batsman is seeing the ball well and judging the line and length of the ball with precision. Rahane came in played a back foot cut shot and then a beautiful front foot on-drive within the first few deliveries of his innings. This meant that he was getting the line, length, and feet movement right.

Along with the feet movement, his head was still and the balance was right while playing all of his shots throughout the innings.

# Timing the ball well

Timing the ball is a factor that suggests whether the batsman is able to judge the pace of the wicket correctly. Although it was a tough task to do so on the Wanderers track, Rahane scored six wonderfully timed boundaries in his gritty knock of 48 propelling India's lead well past 200 runs.

# Played the role of a vice-captain

After Virat Kohli got out to a beautiful delivery by Kagiso Rabada, Rahane took over the responsibility of holding the innings together and did not let it slip into the hands of Proteas. Known for his calm head, Rahane carefully stitched a precious partnership with the in-form Bhuvneshwar Kumar. It was indeed a pleasing site to watch him wear the vice-captain's hat and guide Kumar with a few batting tips.

Although it was not a huge score that Ajinkya Rahane achieved, it will do a world of good to his confidence and reduce a little bit of burden off the shoulders of the team management as well. With an all-important Test series coming up against England, Rahane finally seemed to be hitting the right note with the bat.