Ajinkya Rahane takes too much pressure on himself in coloured clothes, says Virat Kohli

After India’s thumping victory over the West Indies in the second one-dayer, Indian skipper Virat Kohli, in a post match interview, commented that Ajinkya Rahane, in an attempt to succeed and cement his place in the limited over format, ends up taking too much pressure on himself, rather than looking at them as normal games.

Ajinkya Rahane has been exceptionally fluent in the series and cashed in when he was provided with the opportunity to bat with Shikhar Dhawan, in the absence of Rohit Sharma. In the first One-Dayer, he scored a brisk 62 off 78 deliveries. He followed it up with a brilliant century yesterday with almost a run a ball 103.

“Jinx has been a part of the one-day setup for a while now. He is someone whom we thought had a great potential at the top of the order but when Rohit and Shikhar play so well at the opening slot, it cumulatively becomes a very powerful package for us. Having said that, we view Jinx as the third opener for us and having got the opportunity to bat in the series, he has done really well in the two innings. Today as well, the way he paced his inning was really really well, going at a run a ball, never falling behind the rate.” quoted Virat Kohli in an interview with Indian Express.

“The shorter format is something we know and he knows he wants to do really well especially looking at the fact that he is an established Test player and so solid there. Therefore, he wants to make it count in these formats as well. So sometimes Rahane ends up taking too much pressure in those situations similar to Tests. That said, Jinx, in this series, has started to look these fixtures as normal cricket games and not thinking about the change in clothing or anything like that.” further augmented the skipper who scored an explosive 87 off 66 deliveries himself yesterday.

Kohli on plans about Jinx in the XI

“It all depends on how a player can do two jobs in a team. There are very few batsmen who can bat both in the middle order as well as at the opening slot and Ajinkya is someone who can bat in both the positions. In future we see Ajinkya providing more balance to the team as the side who can opt for an extra bowling option maybe.” concluded the modern chase-master.