My role is to take the backseat; I only turn up when Virat Kohli asks to me: Ajinkya Rahane

India would be up against New Zealand for the much-awaited World Test Championship Final on June 18 at Southampton. Moving ahead, Virat Kohli will be the key member of the team who would be keen on fetching big numbers. Eyes will also be on India’s Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane who did a brilliant job while leading India in Australia sans Kohli and some other senior players.

However, Rahane in his recent chat opened up on how he likes to take a backseat when Kohli is in action. He stated that he only likes to step up when the skipper needs any assistance from him. Otherwise, he added that a skipper already has a lot going in his head so he doesn’t like to bother much at that time.

“My role is to take the backseat. The captain already has a lot of thoughts in his head and as the vice-captain, my role is to keep my plans ready.

“If the need comes I reveal my plans but more often than not, I take the back seat. When Virat asks what needs to be done, I should be ready with the answers,” said Rahane while speaking to ESPNcricinfo.

Rahane’s captaincy came under major limelight during India’s last tour to Australia. He took the charge of the team during adverse conditions and was vital in fetching India a much-needed victory at Melbourne. After the tour, many demanded replacing Virat with Rahane as a full time Test captain. However, the Maharashtra batter added that Virat will always be his captain and he also went on to point difference between batting with him and Cheteshwar Pujara.

Ajinkya Rahane differentiates between batting with Kohli and Pujara

“Virat and I have had a lot of big partnerships. We like to play attacking cricket. If you look at our strike rate, it is really good in Test cricket. Cheteshwar is different, he likes to take his team. With him the communication is different, he bats at No.3, I bat at No.5 whereas Virat and I are numbers four and five. If we want to counter attack, then we decide to do it together. With Pujara we take more time to form a partnership. The similarity in batting with the two of them is that our communication is always good,” concluded Rahane.