I can give more than my best as captain or vice-captain: Ajinkya Rahane

Ajinkya Rahane has been one of those classical players with a lot of composure and understanding of the game. He has been successful in the largest format of the game, which might be the reason for promoting him as the vice-captain of the side.

Rahane feels that the promotion will not affect his batting and he said that he likes taking on responsibilities. “As a vice-captain, there will be responsibilities and I like to take responsibilities. When I toured Zimbabwe as a captain, I learned a lot from my team-mates, it was a good experience and we had won in Zimbabwe,” Rahane said, as reported by the Times of India, after being handed the CEAT Special Performance award on Monday. “I will learn new things from this team and it will be important how I go ahead step by step.”

Also Read: Indian squad announced for West Indies Test series

While it is believed in international cricket that the additional burden of responsibilities will affect his performances, but Rahane is of the opinion that the added responsibility will improve his play.

“All these things are in the mind and how you think about such things is important and I don’t think that captaincy and vice-captaincy make any difference on batting. As a captain or a vice-captain, I can give my more than my best because there is responsibility. When you represent the country, your mindset is completely different. This will help to improve my performance,” Rahane said.

Rahane said that he had toured West Indies as a part of the India A squad. “I had toured the West Indies as part of India A around 3-4 years back. At that time, the wickets were little slow. I have heard there is good bounce and pace in Barbados & Jamaica. At the same time, I feel the wickets may be spin-friendly,” he said.

“We will get the idea of the wickets once we go there. But it is an exciting tour to the West Indies. We are going with a young Test team. We have done well recently and so we are looking forward to the tour,” he added.

Rahane would also like to get some advice from batting legends like Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar before travelling to West Indies. “Whenever they (Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar) are available, I try and converse with them. Before going to West Indies, if I can meet them, I will ask them about their experience, conditions and what kind of cricket is played there. If they are available, I will like to speak to them.”