New Delhi (TIP)-A central figure in India’s epic turnaround during the 2020-21 tour of Australia, stand-in captain of that series Ajinkya Rahane says “someone else took the credit” for decisions he made to resurrect the team after the nightmarish 36 all out in the first Test in Adelaide. As regular captain Virat Kohli flew out on parental leave, leaving in his wake the disappointment of the humiliating loss in the series-opener in Adelaide, Rahane took over the reins in difficult circumstances.

What followed was one of the most incredible turnarounds in sport as India rebounded to win the second match in Melbourne by eight wickets, with Rahane leading the comeback with a magnificent hundred. “I know what I’ve done there. I don’t need to tell anyone. That’s not my nature to go and take credit. Yes, there were some things that I took the decisions on the field or in the dressing room but someone else took the credit for it,” Rahane said in a TV interview.

Rahane did not take any names but his comments could well be a veiled attack on then head coach Ravi Shastri, who was widely acclaimed for the team’s performance and dominated the media space for being the architect of the turnaround, given that the dressing room resembled a hospital ward at one point. In fact, Shastri became the voice of the team after that brilliant victory, and the one in Brisbane.

India missed three frontline players in Melbourne and continued to lose key players but still emerged triumphant at the end. “After that, the reactions from people or those who took credit or what was said on the media, ‘I did this’ or ‘this was my decision’, or ‘this was my call’, it was for them to talk about,” Rahane said.

Shikhar Dhawan returns to add to firepower

Ahmedabad: The returning Shikhar Dhawan will add more firepower to a ruthless India, who are faced with the problem of plenty as they eye a clean sweep of West Indies in an inconsequential third ODI.

The hosts head into the final match of the ODI series after having ticked almost all the boxes in the first two, which they won comfortably.

Senior opener Dhawan was among the four players, including a reserve bowler, who had tested positive for Covid just four days before the start of the ODI series. But now that the southpaw is back, India could be forced to make a few changes to their winning combination.

In his absence, the team management had opened with Ishan Kishan in the first game and the flamboyant Rishabh Pant in the second. This means that vice-captain KL Rahul would continue to bat in the middle-order along with Virat Kohli, whose search for his 71st international hundred continues. Pant will go back to the middle-order with Suryakumar Yadav, who is likely to retain his place after emerging as the team’s highest scorer in the second match.            Source: PTI