I don’t think about the future much: Rahane
India has been going strong in the One-Day International series against Australia and heads into Indore on the back of a 2-0 advantage over its opponents. Losing Shikhar Dhawan ahead of the series could have been seen as a setback, especially given the opener’s phenomenal return to form since this year's Indian Premier League.
But it was perfectly rational to let Dhawan go, with his wife unwell and going through a surgery that required him to be around the family through the difficult times. And it wasn't like India was desperately out of other options. Dhawan's departure paved the way for Ajinkya Rahane to step up to fill his boots, and every time the Mumbai batsman has been assigned the task, be it in the absence of Dhawan or Rohit Sharma, he's done a decent job of it.
In the second ODI in Kolkata, Rahane looked in tremendous touch before a slight mix-up between him and Virat Kohli led to his exit. He scored 55 off 64 balls, with seven glorious hits to the fence.
Rahane's last eight ODI innings have fetched 62, 103, 72, 60, 39, 5, 5 and 55 - all from the opening position. So what happens when Dhawan returns?
"I don't think about the future much," said Rahane, when presented with the question. "I try to do my best when I get an opportunity. I stay in the present as much as possible. We don't know what the future holds. For me, it works best if I back myself and give my best. You cannot always think about results or scoring hundreds. Even if you score a 45 or a 50, that crucial 45-50 matters. When Shikhar comes back, we don't know that will happen. So at the moment, it's important for me to give my best for the team."
Fair enough. It's clear that Rahane doesn't want to get distracted with what his next role could be. With Manish Pandey failing to impress at No. 4 so far, and KL Rahul not yet given a decent chance to prove if he's the ideal replacement, he could even be slotted in at that position.
"Adjustment is completely mental but the best thing about this side is that the guys can all bat anywhere - so that flexibility is there," Rahane pointed out. "I have batted at No. 3, 4, and 5 too. It is important to know how to deal with the situation. Adjustment is completely in the mind. Technically you can adapt anywhere, but it's the mindset that matters."
And for that, Rahane has been getting help from various sources. Recently, a photograph surfaced in the Indian media, of him having a chat with Sachin Tendulkar at the nets.
"For four days, I went for net sessions in BKC (Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai) after the Sri Lanka series," he revealed. "Sachin paaji was there, and he told me 'back your game. Opportunities will come sometimes, and they will be missing sometimes. It is not in your hand. You need to work on mindset - because of the better the mindset, the better you do on the field.' He did not tell me anything much about the technical stuff. He mostly spoke about the mental preparation - about aggression etc. He has played so much against Australia, so he spoke to me about how to prepare mentally, and pointed out the lengths they generally bowl. It was great having the chat with him, and it gave me a lot of confidence speaking to him.
"In Kolkata, I just tried to make sure I didn't repeat the mistakes I made in the first match, and after the first couple of overs, the aim was to put pressure on Australia, on how to counter-attack. When Rohit got out and Kohli and I were batting, plan was to make sure we even hit their good balls and counter-attack so we can build pressure on them."
India has proven to be the superior side in the competition so far, successfully defending not-so-big totals in both the matches in the series.
"You can't expect to score 300 or 350 every time you bat," said Rahane. "There will be times when you score 240 or 280 but it's more important you defend such totals as well. This team has the quality to defend any total. The bowling attack is so good that the team is confident that we can defend and win matches even despite not putting up huge totals. We are confident that we can restrict any opposition. When a couple of batsmen get set and score big, you tend to get enough totals. But when you end up winning matches even after scoring 240-ish totals, you establish yourself as the No. 1 team."
