Ajinkya Rahane lavished praise on Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri for changing the mentality of Indian cricket post the retirement of MS Dhoni from the longest format of the game in December 2014. The star batter was the vice-captain of the side that was led by Virat Kohli while Shastri was the head coach for large periods.
For those unversed, Kohli replaced Dhoni as India's Test captain in January 2015 and changed the team's fortunes as they rose from number 7 in the ICC rankings (at the time of his appointment) to number one in two years. From that moment, India retained the rank for the majority of Kohli's tenure, which ended in January 2022.
Rahane claimed Kohli and Shastri were responsible for toughening up the team and pointed to their approach to playing overseas tests.
"When MS Dhoni stepped away from Test cricket, Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri toughened up Indian cricket, especially in overseas Tests. We became more aggressive, bolder, and always proactive rather than defensive. "Virat always told me, 'If you feel like attacking from the very first ball, go for it.He gave players the confidence to play fearlessly," said Rahane on the "Stick to Cricket" podcast.
Ajinkya Rahane On Relation With Virat Kohli
Days after Kohli revealed Rahane was his favourite batting partner in Test cricket, India's 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy-winning captain opened up on the partnerships the duo shared together. He claimed their distinct personalities ensured they complemented each other perfectly.
"We complemented each other very well because of his aggressive nature and my calm nature. The reason behind our successful partnerships was the positive and frank communication. We had many good partnerships against Australia. And in those, whenever Virat thought of going against a particular bowler and if my response was positive, he would do it better," said Rahane.
"Virat always liked people coming after him. And he used to ask me if he should sledge the opposition player back. I would tell him 'Yes, go for it' as that's what worked for him. Our camaraderie was great, and we used to spend a lot of time with each other even off the field. We used to talk a lot about cricket, which you don't see nowadays. He was always positive and used to tell me never to hesitate in attacking a bowler," he added.
Kohli and Rahane batted together in 67 innings and scored 3661 runs at an average of 56.32 with 10 centuries and 17 half-century stands. This makes them the pair with the fifth-highest aggregate partnerships runs in the longest format of the game in history.
Rahane took charge of the team in Kohli's absence and led the team to some famous victories, which included his debut match as captain, which was the series decider in the 2017 Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) at Dharamshala.
Later, he took charge of the team after the first test in the 2020-21 BGT, where India lost after the infamous 36 all out. Rahane managed to lead the team to an incredible turnaround as they won the series 2-1 on Australian soil despite the team being without several key players due to an injury crisis.
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