India Test captain Virat Kohli today hailed ‘Man of the Match’ Ajinkya Rahane, terming him as one with rare qualities of “intent backed by solid technique”.
The skipper shared a 154-run fifth wicket stand with Rahane and said batting with the Mumbaikar was more satisfying than his own knock of 88.
“I enjoy batting with him (Rahane). We had some really good partnerships in the past as well. What I like about him is that his intent is really good backed by solid technique, which is a rare balance. To find that balance early in the career is a commendable effort,” Kohli, who was effusive in his praise for one of the superstars in the line-up, said.
“He has played some very important knocks for us in the last couple of years. Because of that, he is probably one of the most important people in our middle order. He is just growing in stature and confidence. I enjoyed batting more with him than me getting to 80 plus score, because partnerships are something we aim for. We hadn’t got a 100-run stand, we wanted to string in a good one. We communicated well,” said the captain.
For him, the stand with Rahane would now be an example of how to bat and wriggle out of crunch situations.
“It was 57/4 and if you lose another wicket, then target will be around 300-315, which is a tricky total with two days to go. We had a discussion that although we are up in the series, we still need to enjoy and learn from this situation for future games. I told him that ‘if me and you bat through this situation and build a big partnership, that will give us confidence in doing that in crunch games as well, that we need to do that thing’,” revealed Kohli.