Ajinkya Rahane doesn’t wish to look too far into future, focus firm on England series

Ajinkya Rahane, ahead of the first Test against England in Chennai, has stated that he doesn’t want to revel in the celebration of the Australia conquest or look too far ahead into the World Test Championship final as the match against England is as important as anything else.

India will take on England on their turf after dominating Australia in Australia with a depleted side. With many star players like Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah and Ishant Sharma back for the Test series, an Indian dominance is right on the cards, and many people are flagging England off even before the toss has taken place.

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Ajinkya Rahane, who led India to the historic series win in Australia, however, is not keen on looking too far ahead and only wants to focus on the first Test.

“After returning from Australia, for a few days, we were celebrating the win. However, it was important to realise that what has happened in the past, has left us and that a new series is coming up,” Rahane said in the press conference, reported Cricbuzz.

“Right now we’re just focusing on this series, this game… Chennai game. For the World Test Championship final there are still three to four months from now. We’re not thinking about that. New Zealand played really well and they deserve to be there.

“For us what is really important is we’re playing England now and it’s all about taking one game at a time. I’ve been saying this – England is a very good team, we have to play very good cricket and we’ll see what happens after the end of the series.”

Rahane: I’ll give my 100% what the team needs in a certain situation

With the captaincy responsibility now off the shoulder, Rahane will look to build on his good batting form and correct his batting measures in India where his statistics are not as great as it is overseas.

Rahane stated that he will give his 100% when the team needs him in a certain situation.

“At the moment I’ve been batting really well. It’s all about what team requires in that particular situation and bat accordingly. For me, it’s all about the contribution for the team rather than thinking about my own performance or my own outcome. So yeah, I’ll give my 100% what the team needs in a certain situation. And i feel really good about my batting.”

The first of the four Tests will be played from Friday at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.