Ajinkya Rahane Describes His Role As Test Vice-Captain

Ajinkya Rahane is a calm head and likes to concentrate on his game but as a Test vice-captain he does not gets involved much until asked for his opinion. Rahane has developed himself as a dependable batsman in the longest format. His current forms has not been up to the mark, though he remains an integral part of the Test squad.

Ajinkya Rahane has scored 4203 runs in the longest format at an average over 42 and will be crucial in India’s tour Down Under in December. Rahane made his Test debut in March 2013 against Australia and it was naturally a special moment for him. Although he did score much on his first appearance, the right-handed batsman has come a long way since then.

Rahane said that his role as a vice-captain is to take the backseat as there are already a lot of things going on in the mind of Virat Kohli. He, however, said that he needs to keep his plans ready and there are times when he makes instinctive suggestions. The top order batsman also said that he needs to keep his answers ready whenever Virat Kohli has something to ask.

“Basically, my role as vice-captain is to take the backseat. I don’t get too involved in the proceedings. The captain already has a lot of thoughts in his mind. As a vice-captain, my role is to keep my set of plans ready. Of course, there are times that I give instinctive suggestions but mostly I take the backseat. When Virat needs a suggestion at a point of time, then I should be ready with the answers, that how we should plan at this juncture of the match.

“There is already a lot of things working in the captain’s mind, in terms of which bowler to use, how to set the field. So as a vice-captain, it’s important to analyse the situation and be ready with plans accordingly and support the captain. And be ready with suggestions and solutions whenever he needs some. Quite often you get the feeling that a certain plan might not work, so telling the captain about your thought process and what I think might work in a certain situation,” Ajinkya Rahane told in an interview with ESPNcricinfo.

In the shortest format, Rahane has an experience of playing 196 T20s, where he has scored 4988 runs at an average of nearly 30. He also has a strike-rate of nearly 120 in the format. In the IPL, he has played 140 matches and averages nearly 33.

He will be next seen in the whites in India’s tour Down Under.