Ajinkya Rahane, India's quiet hero
Ajinkya Rahane, India's quiet hero
With a combination of calmness, composure, skill and courage, he helped the team live to fight another day. 
After pulling Pat Cummins for six to bring up his half-century, Ajinkya Rahane had his head covered by a bowing helmet. The moment lasted only a few minutes, but it was touching. In that case, Rahane can take heart that everything he has done since falling out of India's Test side in January 2022 has been worthwhile.
Since then, Rahane has been telling himself, telling us, on time. And nothing else is important. But he has played more than 80 Tests, and he has led various Indian teams whenever the opportunity presented itself or he has played big shots over the years. Either he's doing well for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy, or he's been scoring runs for Chennai Super Kings in their recent IPL triumph. None of these things. Rahane played cricket away from the casino, but quietly did something special. Without him, India may not lift the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. After India were bundled out for 36 in the first Test in Adelaide, he quietly took over captain Virat Kohli, who had returned to India for the birth of his daughter. In the second Test, in Melbourne, Rahane scored one of the best centuries in Test history to help India extend the streak. Thursday, even before heading to India's shock 50-3 in reply to Australia's 469 in the World Test Championship final at The Oval, Rahane would have erased all emotions. It doesn't matter how he managed to get back into the team after almost 18 months out. His uniform number is one. His dance style is the same. His work is the same. Also, fighting the group in troubled waters is also a well-known area. As soon as he arrived, Rahane faced a barrage from Cummins, including one of the best deliveries of the game. Throwing around fourth leg, on the wide side of long-on, the ball fell. Rahane, who was rooted to the stumps, was forced to dance but the ball rose up a bit to hit his outside edge and hit him on the back of the thigh. It hit the stumps, and umpire Richard Illingworth didn't hesitate to raise a finger. But Cummins has passed.
The Australian skipper bowled the next ball at a near point. At this point, the ball suddenly moved to Rahane's right finger, which must have been placed
The first four and above are already a distant memory. That has taken him to 17, while Rahane will be stuck for 23 balls. But he didn't worry. After facing the white Kookaburra for two months in the IPL, and making different long changes, uneven bounces and relentless questions from Cummins, Scott Boland, Cameron Green and Mitchell Starc are part of the joy of test cricket. The highlight of Rahane's glove on the second day was that it never looked run or broken. But on Friday, he made sure the board was rolling. Its boundaries are formed by carved steeds between the pit and the head, and the forelegs project from the cover.
On display against a superior attack, mistakes were inevitable, but luck was Rahane's friend more than once. On 72, he played on his body with a full ball to fifth leg Cummins; face outside, however, David Warner brought down, who could be distracted by the journey of Alex Carey.
That didn't bother Rahane. When Nathan Lyon arrived at the crease about 20 minutes before lunch, he flicked the man from his crease into cover for four. The pace of Rahane and Shardul Thakur was starting to trouble Australia, with the early attacking zone changed and the defenders dropped deep. A century had been largely denied by sending Green's test to the valley, but Rahane did not bite his lip. He did his job well: not only did he prove his worth again, that he could still pull the team out of bad situations on difficult ground, but he helped Thakur stay in the fold despite and the latter reads it. the seamstresses. Thakur, who is making a comeback after playing his Test debut last July against England, said Rahane told him that the only way to rebuild his innings was to introduce himself to the club's bowling plans. Australia. Rahane asks Thakur to quickly show him if he is wrong. It is Rahane's natural nature, his willingness to learn and treat everyone, that earns him the respect of his peers and former big names. This is what makes him a hero for young people. And that respect is what motivates Rahane to do amazing things. During the 2018 tour to South Africa, Rahane was ruled out for the first two Tests of the three-match series, which India won. Rahane would later reveal that he was saddened by the "disappointment", but when the team officials told him that he would play the final Test in Johannesburg, he told himself that it was "the best chance to become a hero.". Rahane scored 48, India's highest score in the second set on a pitch that the ICC would describe as poor due to dangerous returns. He himself compared it to a century after South Africa lost 63 runs to chase down 241.
Perhaps, this is what Rahane told himself after his fifty on Friday morning: \"You can be a hero if you are in time". His color is a combination of calmness, art, skill and courage. The challenge for him and the reason for his retirement remains the same - can he keep getting those points? But that'suestion for another day. For
now, he is the reason why India still have hope of drawing, or even winning, this Test.
