What’s the story?
Indian opener KL Rahul has revealed that Indian captain for the fourth Test, Ajinkya Rahane walked out to bat with a positive intent and wanted to dominate the Aussies on day 4 of the first Test between India and Australia.
“The way Jinks came out and started hitting Cummins for sixes... He just came out and said I am going to dominate,” Rahul said after winning the match for India by scoring a half-century in the second innings.
In case you didn’t know...
India beat Australia by 8 wickets in the fourth Test at the HPCA stadium in Dharamsala and bagged the four-match Test series 2-1. Chasing a modest total of 106 to win, India cruised home with ease. KL Rahul, who scored 60 in India’s first innings, top-scored in the second innings with an unbeaten 51.
After taking a lead of 32 runs in the first innings, Indian bowlers bowled brilliant to dismiss the visitors for just 137 in the second innings. Umesh Yadav, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja picked three wickets apiece.
With this win, India have won 10 out of the 13 Tests they played in the 2016/17 home season.
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Details
India resumed day 4 with 87 runs away from the target and lost the wickets of Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara in the same over. Skipper Rahane walked out to bat and he kick-started his innings by driving Pat Cummins down the ground for a boundary and followed it with another one off the next ball, this time a hook to the square-leg boundary.
He didn’t stop there as he took on Cummins few overs later. First, he pulled a short delivery towards the mid-wicket and the very next ball, he cleared his front foot and sent yet another short delivery to a six over the covers.
Rahane remained unbeaten on 38 off just 27 balls with a strike-rate of over 140 and his knock included four boundaries and two sixes.
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Author’s take
It is good to see captain Rahane leading from the front. If his heroics with the bat in the second innings was one example of his aggression, the field settings and the bowling changes he made in the fourth Test were brilliant. It is safe to say that India have got a gem of a captaincy material to lead the side in the absence of Virat Kohli.
Extra cover: Ajinkya Rahane wanted five bowlers for Dharamsala Test, reveals Virat Kohli
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