'We know he can play like that' - Mitchell Starc lauds Ajinkya Rahane's gritty 89 in WTC final

Australia pacer Mitchell Starc lauded Indian batter Ajinkya Rahane for his brilliant 89 in the World Test Championship final at The Oval in London. Indian team was in trouble when Rahane's gritty knock helped them avoid the follow-on and reach to 296 in the first innings.

Meanwhile, Rahane received accolades from both fans and former cricket players after making some changes to his approach. Despite India losing significant wickets in the first innings, Rahane did not come under any pressure as he took the Australian pacers on.

Notably, Rahane, eho suffered devastating body hits from the Australian pacers and also injured his finger, smashed six over against Pat Cummins to bring up his half-century. Meanwhile, the Australian pacer Starc said that Australia were aware of his ability and that it took a very special catch to dismiss him. 

It took a special catch to get Rahane out: Starc

"He played really well. We know Jinks [Ajinkya Rahane] can play innings like that; we’ve seen it through series before. He came in at a tough time to bat and managed to, along with [Shardul] Thakur as well, to absorb some pressure there and build an innings and played really nicely. So, it took a special catch to get him out and certainly that partnership was one that sort of prolonged our bowling innings I guess but I think they both played pretty well," Starc told press.

"Jinx probably was a little bit more you know – waited for the bad ball and built his innings and then built a nice partnership. So, we know what a good player he is and he’s done in the past and hopefully we can get him out early in the second innings,” he added.

Meanwhile, Rahane was dropped from the Indian team in January last year after several poor outings in thelongest format. The 35-year-old has since played some tremendous knocks in domestic cricket and also contributed to Chennai Super Kings' title win in the 2023 IPL.