A captain working in stealth: Ajinkya Rahane shows grace under pressure

You didn’t need to look further than Ajinkya Rahane’s face on the final day at the Gabba earlier this week to get a glimpse into his mind. As Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar were in the midst of pummelling the Australian bowlers and steering their team to an unlikely win, India’s stand-in captain cut a figure of implausible poise.

Knowing that victory was now within reach, some among the younger lot on the Indian bench were already celebrating. Rohit Sharma, who was sat next to Rahane, wore a wide grin. Rahane, though, was dispassionate as ever, gently applauding the strokes while silently acknowledging that it wasn’t over just yet. When the denouement finally came, Rahane let the others take over, lightly fading into the background.

The way a man responds to defeat tells a lot about him. But the way he responds to victory after wretched defeat perhaps tells you more. Rahane was among the few in Brisbane who were subject to the humiliation of Adelaide. This was a stirring comeback indeed, but Rahane reacted as if he fully understood the fickleness of sport — sunrise one moment, sunset the other. He wasn’t going to let this consume him.

When Virat Kohli left the touring party after the first Test, there was understandable apprehension over how the team would respond. Beating Australia away was tough enough with Kohli; without him, it was like climbing a steep mountain with only half a tank of oxygen. Yet, Rahane found a way to motivate his depleted group of players. He set the marker with a dogged century in the second game in Melbourne, often riding his luck but otherwise expertly navigating a ferocious Aussie bowling unit that kept aiming for Indian throats as if it were not playing cricket but contesting an MMA fight.

Even in Brisbane, it was Rahane who set the ball rolling in the second innings, showing the rest that a target of 328 wasn’t out of reach. Somewhat uncharacteristically, he took the game to the Australian bowlers. He perished for a 22-ball 24, but gave the incoming Pant the licence to go for an outright win. Aggression, after all, has many faces. 

Similarly, his tactics in the field were clever. Even with Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith piling on the runs, Rahane, by making sudden changes, or by simply persisting with a certain bowler, made sure that the game never got out of hand. There were few animated gestures or furious pep talks. Just a captain working in stealth: Thinking, plotting, prevailing.

To think that all this has come easy for the 32-year-old would be a grave mistake. He endured a horrendous Test debut in 2013, before finally making his chance count in the toughest of touring conditions: South Africa. But such has been the arduous nature of his career that when India travelled to South Africa again two years ago, Rahane, by then vice-captain, found himself out of the team for two Test matches. India lost both. When he was called back to the side, he battled his way to a match-winning 48 on a challenging wicket in Johannesburg.

In limited-overs cricket, Rahane, for long, has been deemed inessential — out of place in a side that has intrepid strokeplayers in plenty, leaving no room for a grafter like him.

That’s perhaps why Rahane likes to live in the moment. Often, the runs have stopped coming — he averages around 43 in Tests, well below standard for a player of his quality — but the determination has remained undimmed. Much of that comes from the toughness he acquired while competing with thousands of other kids in the maidans of Mumbai. If you hail from that part of the world, talent can only take you so far — playing for India demands a completely different kind of mindset.

With Kohli returning for India’s engagement with England at home next month, Rahane will further retreat into the backdrop. The clamour for him to replace Kohli as full-time skipper may be slightly misplaced, but Rahane, like in the past, has once again displayed what a quiet, understated leader like him can accomplish. And knowing him, he will happily play second fiddle again: Working hard, chipping away, waiting his turn.