The Indian skipper Virat Kohli slammed a journalist for questioning the Indian test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane. Virat wasn’t impressed with what was said about Rahane and defended him by giving a heart-winning reply.
On Day 5, India’s vice–captain Ajinkya Rahane was dismissed for a duck off a James Anderson’s delivery. Anderson got the ball to reverse from a good length and found the gap between Rahane’s bat and pad.
Anderson only took 3 balls to dismiss Rahane as he bowled an amazing reverse-swing delivery that moved both in the air and off the pitch. Rahane, while trying to defend on the front foot, was trapped and the ball thudded into the stumps, ending his knock on a duck. The dismissal took place only two deliveries after he dismissed Shubman Gill with a similar reverse-swinging delivery.
However, after his dismissal, he found himself at the receiving end of criticism and trolling. In a post-match video conference, Kohli backed Rahane and stressed that the right-handed batsman has always delivered when the Indian cricket team needed him to while giving him an example of his Boxing Day heroics at the MCG. Virat said:
“Look if you are trying to dig something out, you are not going to get anything because there is nothing. If you are talking about the MCG Test, he scored a hundred when the team wanted him the most,”
Virat also claimed that Rahane’s dismissal in the first innings of the 1st test match was more about England’s skipper Joe Root’s sensational catch. Virat said:
“Today’s innings you can put that aside. But in the first innings, he was looking to score a boundary. It was a brilliant catch by Joe that got rid of him. So if that goes for the boundary, he gets runs in the first innings and we are not having this conversation.”
Furthermore, Virat heaped praises on two of the most experienced campaigners of team India – Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. He said:
“Ajinkya, along with Pujara, is our most important Test batsman and he will continue to be. We believe in his abilities. He is an impactful player,”
Meanwhile, the second Test match will be played at Chepauk in Chennai and will get underway from Saturday, February 13.
