Ajinkya Rahane showed how to bat on a seaming pitch, said Australian pacer Mitchell Star, as his timely knock of 89 kept India in the fight on Day 3 of the World Test Championship final.
India are well behind in the game but Rahane’s gritty stand, coupled with Shardul Thakur’s fifty, saved them from a follow-on.
“He played really well. We know Jinks can play innings like that; we’ve seen it through series before. He came in at a tough time to bat and managed to, along with Thakur as well, to absorb some pressure there and build an innings and played really nicely,” said Starc.
Rahane was joined by Shardul Thakur and the duo stitched a 108-run stand for the seventh wicket. Shardul was the second-highest scorer in India’s first innings with 51 runs and a few runs behind him was Ravindra Jadeja with 48.
“So, it took a special catch to get him out and certainly that partnership was one that sort of prolonged our bowling innings I guess but I think they both played pretty well,” said the Aussie.
“Jinks probably was a little bit more you know – waited for the bad ball and built his innings and then built a nice partnership. So, we know what a good player he is and he’s done in the past and hopefully, we can get him out early in the second innings.”
The left-arm pacer had dismissed Virat Kohli with a snorter on day two. With the pitch playing tricks, he felt he got lucky.
“From that far end, I struggled to find some rhythm. I just went back to trying to run in and hit the wicket. I managed to find a bit of extra bounce and found the thumb. So, yeah, nice one to get”, he said.
Starc added that it was a good toss to lose for Australia.
“It (pitch) is certainly showing more signs of inconsistency as we go on obviously. It seems to be a good toss to lose. But yeah, I think obviously with the weather that we’ve had and the weather that’s coming up, it might play some more tricks.”
“I felt like we all, sort of our group, certainly felt like bowling from the far end we didn’t quite have the same rhythm as we did from the pavilion. And so, I certainly felt like the other end was uphill into the wind and just played a part in not being able to find that rhythm.”
“So, bowling from the pavilion certainly felt a lot freer and we all felt a bit better today. Might just play a few more tricks as the game goes on”, he added.
India started at 155/5 on Day 3 but managed to avoid the follow-on and ended their innings at 296, giving Australia a lead of 173 to build their second innings on.
At stumps three Australia were 124 for loss of four wickets, which included both Steve Smith and Travis Head, the batters who had powered Australia’s first innings.
(With PTI inputs)
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