Ajinkya Rahane Denies India Seeking To Get Under England’s Skin In 3rd Test, Says 'For Us It's Important To Play Good Cricket'

Things got heated up during India vs England 2^nd Test at Lord’s, when the exciting Test encounter also witnessed some heated exchanges and verbal arguments between players of both sides. However, Ajinkya Rahane has mentioned that the Indian team is not seeking to get under England’s skin in the upcoming 3^rd Test in Leeds.

Ajinkya Rahane, who failed with the bat in the 1^st innings at Lord’s managing just one run, came back with a crucial 61-run knock in the 2^nd innings along with an important partnership of 100 runs with Cheteshwar Pujara. Both the batsmen rescued India from a tense situation; after the team lost three quick wickets in the 1^st session in the form of Virat Kohli (20), Rohit Sharma (21), and KL Rahul (5).

For India, It Is Important To Play Good Cricket, Says Ajinkya Rahane

When asked about whether India is intending to get under England’s skin in the 3^rd Test, India’s Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane denied any such intent of the Virat Kohli and co. He rather mentioned that for India, it is important to play good cricket.

“We are not thinking anything like that (getting under England’s skin). For us, what’s important is to play good cricket, staying at the moment and play one game at a time,” Rahane said.  

The 33-year-old also pointed out that bowling at the right line and lengths is a challenge in UK but Indian bowlers are focussing on bowling in the right areas.

“When you are playing in the UK, your line and lengths are very important and that’s a challenge as a bowling unit. 2014 when we came here, we were a young unit, the guys were still learning. Now we are experienced. All the bowlers have played all over the world, they know how to bowl in certain situation. We focussed on bowling in right areas.” Ajinkya Rahane further said.

When asked whether tailender’s good batting affects the rival team’s openers, Rahane agreed saying that tail partnership mentally exhausts the batsmen.

“It does affect the batsmen. They keep thinking about their batting when 7-8 wickets fall. You can see they started practising shadow batting in slips, they start jumping (warming up), start doing foot work.

“This tail partnership mentally exhausts the batsmen. That was a good sign for us in last matches. Credit to them. They themselves want to bat after bowling, it feels good to know they want to contribute with the bat as well,” the right-handed batsman further said.  

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Indian tailenders Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah smashed a match-winning stand of 89 runs in the 2^nd innings of the 2nd Test against England, which became a big reason for India’s victory at Lord’s. Earlier, the Virat Kohli and boys were railing at 208-8 at the start of Day 5, having a 181-run lead.

However, Shami and Bumrah’s unbeaten knocks of 56* and 34* in the end set up a big target of 272 for the hosts, as they surrendered for just 120 in the 2^nd innings. Now, with a 1-0 lead in the series, India will take on England in the 3^rd Test clash at Headingly, Leeds from August 25 (Wednesday).