Rahane buckles down to play captain’s knock, young Gill impressed

Melbourne, Dec 27 : India’s stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane became only the fifth India skipper to score a Test hundred in Australia with his unbeaten 104-run masterpiece in the second Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Sunday.
Rahane, who walked in with India at 61/2, soon saw the departure of India’s reliable No. 3 Cheteshwar Pujara at the total of 64. He was left with youngsters like Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja to count on for a rescue act. He did that with aplomb adding 52, 57 and an unbeaten 104 for the next three wickets.
“The way he was patient about this knock,” said opener Shubman Gill when asked about what he learned from the senior batsman.
Gill said that Rahane avoided going into the shell for the entire innings and took on the attack when he needed to.
The 32-year-old, who is standing in for regular skipper Virat Kohli who returned to India after the first Test to attend the birth of his child, however buckled down to play an innings of grit and determination against an Aussie pace bowling attack that was bowling a very tight line and length.
“This knock was all about patience and he was so patient. More importantly when you are playing such a high quality bowling attack, sometimes you go into that shell and you are not able to score runs. But the way Ajinkya bhai played, it was such a magnificent knock to watch from outside. How to see off those tough periods. The loose balls that he was getting, he was making sure that he put all of them away.”