‘Results will follow if your intent is right’ – Ajinkya Rahane

Before Hardik Pandya turned the third Test on its head with a five-wicket haul on Sunday’s second day, India had already given themselves a chance of clawing back in the five-Test series with a better show with the bat than in the first two Tests.

Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul gave them a first-wicket stand of 60 runs, and after the loss of three wickets before lunch, Virat Kohli and Rahane collaborated for 159 runs. Kohli hit 97, and Rahane 81.

It was a welcome return to form for Rahane, a rare breed among Indian batsmen in that his average away from home is 48.85 as compared to 32.87 in India. He had scored 48 runs in the first two Tests as India went 2-0 down.

“I sat down in the dressing room after the Lord’s (second) Test match and analysed my best innings – how I played them, what my mindset was, what my approach to those innings were. There will be success and failure for a professional cricketer, but as long as your intent is right, and your mindset and attitude are correct, results will follow automatically,” he explained in an interview with bcci.tv.

“I didn’t get bogged down after the first two Tests, and I had the belief that if the ball is there to be hit, I’d hit it. If you think about the end result too much, you put yourself under more pressure. So, the focus was to play one ball at a time, and play each ball on its merit.”

Rahane did play positively, not putting his scoring shots away but making sure he didn’t chase balls for the drive outside the off stump. His 81 came from 131 balls in just under three hours.

“When Virat and I were batting, we were only focussed on building a partnership. Once we were set, we focussed on scoring runs. That partnership was really crucial for us,” he said.

“When I went in to bat after lunch, the intent from the start was on rotating the strike. I have always believed that if you go into your shell, you can’t play the game you want. So I didn’t want to go into my shell. Our conversations between deliveries and between overs was to show good intent. Even if we left balls, we needed to have the right intent. It’s because of that intent that we could capitalise on the bad balls.”

Neither of them could go on to score a century, but India did put up 329. Since then, England have collapsed for 161 and India have extended their lead to 292 by getting to 124/2 in their second innings.