India vs Australia | Bishan Singh Bedi lauds Ajinkya Rahane’s brilliant knock
Bishan Singh Bedi lavished praise on Ajinkya Rahane who played an important innings of 51 from 105 deliveries which helped India steady the ship in their first innings against Australia on Saturday. Rahane and Virat Kohli put up a 90-run partnership to lead India to 172/3 at the end of day two.
After Australia registered a total of 326 in the first innings in Perth, Virat Kohli & Co. needed a strong start at the top of the batting order to set the pace for the rest of the innings if they hoped to win the game. However, KL Rahul managed to score just two runs before he was bowled by Josh Hazlewood while Murali Vijay was dismissed for naught by Mitchell Starc.
Starc also went on to dismiss Cheteshwar Pujara early on in his innings, as Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane were left with the task of tackling the Aussie seamers.
"Ajinkya Rahane played a superb knock (51 not out) today. Absolutely brilliant...the captain (Virat Kohli) and the vice-captain (Rahane) were complementing each other. It was a lovely sight and today was very absorbing cricket. This sort of cricket cannot be replaced by any other gimmick -- whether it is T20 or I don't know -- 100 balls (cricket)," 72-year-old Bedi told PTI.
The Indian skipper played an important role in Perth with a responsible knock of 82 not out, as the duo put up an essential 90-run partnership to end the day at 172/3. Bedi refrained from predicting whether the current series was the best chance for India to win a Test series in Australia.
"We can only find out after the end of the series. I don't want to be a predictor," Bedi added.