India vs Australia: “I went up to Virat Kohli and said sorry,” Ajinkya Rahane reveals dressing room talk after run out in first Test

A horrible mix-up between Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane during the first innings of the Test between India and Australia resulted in the Indian skipper’s run out. Rahane revealed on Friday that he apologized to Kohli after the day’s play.

Both the Indian batsmen had managed to build a strong innings together after a few early wickets. India was at 188/3 when the mix-up between the batsmen turned the match towards Australia. In the 77th over of India’s first innings, Rahane pushed a delivery from Nathan Lyon. He took off for a single but the ball was hit straight towards the mid-fielder. When he realized a run wasn’t possible, he signaled Kohli to go back halfway through. However, it was too late.

Kohli fell short of his crease. The mix-up between Rahane and Kohli resulted in the latter getting run out and taking the long walk back at 74. Kohli’s wicket triggered a collapse in the batting order as India went from 188 for 3 to 244 all out in the first innings.

“It was a tough one. We were going really going well at that time. After the day’s play, I went up to him and said sorry and he was all okay. Such things happen cricket, we got to move on,” Rahane said.

‘Each and every individual in this team is really capable of doing well’

India vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane will take over the captaincy as Virat Kohli has returned home for his paternity leave.

Rahane said that Kohli met with the team before leaving and advised them to back their strengths. “We met Virat before he left, we had a discussion on how to go about things. He told us to play as a team and back our strengths,” he said on the eve of the Boxing Day Test match in Melbourne.

India have made four changes in the Playing XI before their second clash against Australia. Shubman Gill has come in for Prithvi Shaw. Ravindra Jadeja has replaced Virat Kohli as India have gone for an an extra spinner while Rishabh Pant and Mohammed Siraj have come in for Wriddhiman Saha and Mohammed Shami.

Rahane was further asked if he would take Kohli’s help in the middle of the series. “I don’t want to disturb him now. This is a very special moment for his family so yeah, don’t want to disturb him,” he said.

He also sounded confident of overcoming the Adelaide debacle of India scoring 36/9 in the second innings, their lowest score in history. “Each and every individual in this team is really capable of doing well, so it’s really a challenge for the captain and management to select the 11,” he said. “We had just one bad hour (in Adelaide). It’s about staying positive, backing your own ability and batting in partnerships,” he added.

Also Read: India vs Australia: ‘Be positive, play to your strength, play as a team’ – Ajinkya Rahane reveals Virat Kohli’s last message before heading back