Good use of feet against Herath was key, says Rahane

Ajinkya Rahane’s attacking-turned-obdurate ninth Test hundred in the second Test against Sri Lanka was his first in 17 innings, since he made 188 in the third and final Test against New Zealand in Indore in October.

It isn’t as if the Indian vice-captain hasn’t been among the runs in the interim, but the three-figure knock had proved elusive. Therefore, he said after stumps on the second day at the SSC ground on Friday (August 4), its significance was even more enhanced.

“It was important but for me I was confident. Even throughout that time not getting a hundred for nine-ten Tests, I was confident about myself,” said Rahane. “I knew that if I get in, I will get a big one. It was all about thinking positive even throughout that period. Coming to Sri Lanka, I had batted well in West Indies (in the One-Day International series) as well, so I wanted to carry that form forward. I batted well in the first innings (in Galle during the first Test), so here I decided that if played positively, I would convert it into a big one.”

Rahane termed his 132 one of his best knocks against spin. “My focus was to dominate; we are the No. 1 team. We talk about it in the dressing-room, that we can’t play under pressure. Going to bat, I knew a little bit how the wicket was behaving, how much bounce, whether it suits my game or not, and the communication between me and Pujara was so good that we hardly played any maiden overs. We put pressure on them.

“My mindset was completely blank coming into this innings,” he went on, of his innings that started in a blaze of boundaries but then plateaued into a typical Rahane knock. “I wanted to take my time initially but later on, we thought if we dominate, if we change the momentum, they will be on the back foot straightaway, and that’s what happened. It was the same thinking that was in Melbourne against Australia (December 2014), we wanted to dominate them and that’s what we did. But here the challenge was slightly different, a spinning-friendly wicket. I was talking to Virat (Kohli) in the dressing-room before lunch (on the first day) that if we get a 150-200 partnership, one big partnership, they will be on the back foot and that’s what actually happened, me and Pujara got that partnership.”

One of the keys to India’s totals of 600, 240 for 3 declared and now 622 for 9 declared has been how brilliantly they have kept Rangana Herath at bay. The experienced left-arm spinner did finish with 4 for 154 in the Indian first innings here, but he needed 42 overs to do so. “When we played last time here against Sri Lanka (2015), especially after Galle Test match (where Herath took six wickets to bowl the home side to an unlikely win), we decided that using our feet against him was very important.

“Here again in the first Test, Shikhar (Dhawan) batted really well, but throughout against him and their spinners, we wanted to use our footwork so that we could get more runs off the back foot. Especially on this kind of wicket, which is very slow and dry, we knew that if we used our footwork, we would get more runs on the back foot. When I went in to bat with Pujara, we decided to change our momentum because Virat got out and we wanted to put pressure back on them.”

India has scored briskly all series long, and Rahane admitted that the team had spoken about the scoring rate. He also said that the fact that there was so much depth in the batting order was a brilliant addition to the Indian set-up. “It is just happening but yes, we are actually talking about that, how we are going to dominate,” he said of India’s run rate in Tests. “Top of the order, Shikhar is batting so well. (KL) Rahul coming into this game, batted well. We know if Shikhar gets going and Rahul gets going, runs will come. But if they get that momentum, as middle-order batsmen it is important to carry that forward and keep scoring at a good pace.

“It will be different challenges when we travel overseas but right now, it is a good thing that every batsman is scoring runs. Not only the top five or six but also Nos. 7, 8, 9, 10, with (Mohammed) Shami also scoring a bit. It is good that the last four are contributing. That credit goes to our batting coach, Sanjay Bangar, and the hard work he has put in. Even Raghu (Raghavendra, the training assistant) in the nets, that’s actually working for us a lot.”

Kusal Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal made liberal use of the sweep shot in the short burst of play to stumps, but Rahane cautioned that the sweep wasn’t the wisest option under the circumstances. “High risk, playing the sweep shot on this pitch, because the bounce is quite variable,” he pointed out. “Some balls are bouncing, a few balls are keeping low. We know that if they play the sweep shot, it’s good for us, we have the chance to get wickets. It’s not easy for batsmen playing on this wicket. Tomorrow, the key will be for our bowlers to bowl in right areas for long periods of time.”