Crushing the pain barriers – mental and physical – was Ajinkya Rahane’s calling card at The Oval on Day 3, as he tried his best to stitch together a gritty partnership to keep India in the game.
John Patrick, the late American playright, had once said: “Pain makes man think. Thought makes man wise. Wisdom makes life endurable.” Rahane’s greatest strength is knowing his limitations. It’s an attribute that goes unrecognized. But it’s a vital part of a human being’s mental make-up. Knowing what you can do and where you stand.
Rahane can never be Virat Kohli for he doesn’t have Kohli’s range of strokes. But when it comes to putting in line both mind and body, Ajinkya stood out at The Oval. On June 9, 2023, he knew that he had to survive the first two hours if India wanted to transform what looked like a match already lost with an improbable fightback. To add to his challenges, he was nursing a finger injury sustained on the second evening, which made batting difficult with some balls starting to gain steep bounce from nowhere.
He even got hit on the same finger once or twice, and each time, the medical staff had to rush in to help. But Rahane stayed firm. Determined to do the job to the best of his ability.
It was tough. India just couldn’t afford to lose more wickets in the first session. If Australia managed to get Rahane, they could easily close in on the tail. For Rahane, it was okay to be hit, for to stay on that pitch you needed to take a few blows on the hand or the fingers. Some balls misbehaved, and on occasion, when Rahane tried to get on top of the bounce, the ball would fly off the glove or the bat handle towards slips or gully.
But at no point did Rahane get bogged down. Each time the Australian fast bowlers erred, he pounced on the opportunity. And when Pat Cummins finally got Nathan Lyon into the attack, Rahane immediately went on the offensive and picked up two wonderful boundaries. He played some outstanding shots, and was even seen telling Shardul Thakur not to curb his instincts.
For Rahane, the choice was between taking some painful blows on the finger or getting out. To put it bluntly, he had to choose between being in pain and choosing the comfort of the change-room. He chose pain, for he needed to be out there for India to stay in the contest.
More than the runs scored, the manner in which they were scored stood out for me. Calm and composed, Rahane was out there to make a statement. He was out here to prove his class. Show once and for all the value of experience. That’s what he did to make a tangible contribution to the Indian cause.
As I have said earlier, Rahane is all about effort. He may not be as talented as some of his compatriots, but he makes up for all his deficiencies with hard work. As he said to me once, “I know how hard it is to win overseas. It is one of the toughest things to do in world cricket. But I will try my best and trust the process.”
Even when he wasn’t scoring, Ajinkya had not lost confidence. “I have to tell you I am feeling very good about my batting and that I have always prepared to my best,” he told me. “I did whatever I could to stay fit, and practiced as hard as was possible. Having said that, I have to tell you this team is not about individual performances. It is about each of us backing the other person and all playing as a team.”
It feels good to see Rahane back among runs. We do not know yet whether he will be able to score big in the second innings, and further silence his critics. It is also not known if this match is a one-off and his last. What is known is that with Rahane, there will never be a lack of effort. He will be up for the daily grind irrespective of the results, for Rahane is all about the process. And preparation. And hard work. And as the saying goes, good things happen to good people. And when it does happen, you keep asking the question: Was this man out of form? Did the runs ever dry up? Did he get dropped, and was it the end of his story?
Against all odds, Rahane made a comeback. And how.
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