Team India Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane made a sensational start to his county campaign for Hampshire as the stylish right-handed batsman scored a century on his county debut. The wonderful stroke-maker revealed his game plan was just to build his innings and bat as long as possible. After his knock, he expressed his delight and said he was happy with the way he batted.
“I am really happy, especially the way I batted. I was really confident and wanted to make it count. My plan was to just bat, bat and bat. I wasn’t thinking about runs. I just wanted to be there and take my team to a good position and that really worked this morning,” Ajinkya Rahane was quoted as saying by the ESPN Cricinfo.
Ajinkya Rahane who wasn’t in the best of touches started off with some crisp shots and his timing was perfect. He looked never out of comfort while facing the likes of Stuart Broad and Jake Ball. It was a disciplined inning as he played each and every ball on its merit. He stated that discipline is very important to survive in conditions like England.
“That (discipline) is really important in England. I have been talking to my teammates about the batting plans and that really worked for me. I just had a simple game plan-wanted to play close to my body and as late as possible,” he added.
Ajinkya Rahane scored just 10 runs in the 1st innings of the Division One game against Nottinghamshire. However, he turned things around when he scored 197 balls 119 which was studded with 14 hits to the fence. Meanwhile, he also became the 3rd Indian cricketer after Piyush Chawla and Murali Vijay to score a century on their county debut. Meanwhile, Rahane was also confident of India winning the upcoming World Cup.
“Definitely, I am going to back the Indian team. We have a very strong side going into the World Cup. So, I am sure the Indian team will do well,” said Rahane.
The Men in Blue will play a couple of warm-up games against New Zealand and Bangladesh on 25th and 28th May respectively before playing their first match against South Africa on 5th June. They will surely go into the tournament as one of the firm favourites to lift the title.