ENG Vs IND 2018: Ajinkya Rahane Believes Test Series Will Test 'Mind' And 'Character'

Team India has played some wonderful cricket across all three formats of the game in the recent past. They are on an all-important tour to England and concurrently getting ready for the five-match Test series beginning on 1^st August in Birmingham. And one player who has always scored runs in difficult overseas conditions is Ajinkya Rahane. He is a class player. However, he hasn’t been in the best of touches of late.

India has been quite against almost all the teams of late. Even in South Africa, they came up with an inspiring performance despite losing the Test series. Subsequently, South Africa ended up winning a couple of more sessions in the first two Tests which led to their unassailable lead in the series.

However, India made a strong comeback in the final Test at Johannesburg when things looked pretty tough.

India has already completed the limited-overs leg in England. After winning the Twenty20 International series by a 2-1 margin, it was the hosts who made a strong comeback and won the ODI series by the same margin.

So, many of the players have got used to the conditions in England. Quite a few players have been in the UK before. Hence, they are expected to be well prepared for the gruelling tour.

We had enough practice in England, feels Ajinkya Rahane 

The visiting team played a solitary warm-up game against Essex at Chelmsford. Some of the batsmen were in their groove and batted well.

However, the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara and Rahane failed to make a mark. But, Rahane had scored runs for India A ahead of the warm-up clash. It was the vice-captain who addressed the press conference ahead of the opening Test.

Ajinkya Rahane was asked whether the team had enough practice ahead of the gruelling Test series.

“I think yes, we had decent practice during that practice match. Even before the practice match, the boys would bat morning and evening in the nets. So yes we had pretty enough net sessions. Even today morning we had a good session as well,” Rahane said.

 

“It is important that we are not talking about our skills. It is all about mindset especially when we are playing in England. What’s your mindset and how quickly you adjust to the situation and handle it, that is more important rather than thinking about your skills. Skill level I feel is at par between the two teams. But it will be a test of our mind and character,” he further added.

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