Want to see Dhoni bat in his old style: Ajinkya Rahane

The Indian team will take the field against England with a new skipper in Virat Kohli. They have had sufficient time to train in Pune ahead of the start of the series and. MS Dhoni will stick around as wicketkeeper-batsman and assist the new skipper in the early days with strategies and other decisions. Ajinkya Rahane who led a young India A team in the second warm-up game that beat the visitors quite comprehensively feels that with lesser burden on him the team will want Dhoni to bring back his swashbuckling game.

Rahane accepted that Team India will miss their experienced skipper but none the less he has a bigger role to play with this young team. “We will miss Dhoni bhai as a captain as he is so experienced,” Rahane was said in a video interview with BCCI.TV. “Dhoni bhai will have less responsibility and we all want to see him bat as he uses to bat in his earlier days.”

The Mumbaikar is a more established Test player and still needs to cement himself in the limited-overs format for that he should focus on providing stability and consistence to the middle-order that relies heavily on Kohli and Dhoni towards the lower half. “I am sure the team will do very good under Virat Kohli, we want to continue playing our own brand of cricket.” Rahane said while talking about Virat the captain.

He missed out the last two Tests of the England series with a finger fracture and made a comeback with the warm-up game where he scored 91 and saw the team through in what could have otherwise been a tricky chase. “I was very excited at the same time I was nervous as I was playing after a one month break. I was looking forward to the game and I had a good net session before the game.”

Also read- Kiran More backs MS Dhoni’s decision to step down as India’s limited overs skipper

“I am very happy with the way I batted, initially I took my time and later on I just wanted to play and regain my confidence. In the end I also got to spend time in the middle.” Rahane said.

19-year-old Rishabh Pant who dazzled in the Ranji Trophy for Delhi was awarded a place in the T20I team and was also named for the second practice game fired things up with a 36-ball 59-run inning and knocked England out of the game.

Praising the southpaw Rahane said, “He’s (Pant) a very exciting young prospect, he did very well in the domestic season as well, so, it’s very good for him that he’s got selected for India. He will get to learn a lot by playing with the senior cricketers.”

Watch the interview here (via BCCI)

India A captain Ajinkya Rahane spoke about his team's six-wicket win yesterday over England. He made 91. #IndAvEnghttps://t.co/6W8ZT8NAEt

— Moulin (@Moulinparikh) January 13, 2017