With the air of a slightly stooped bureaucrat, Ajinkya Rahane rises to the captaincy

Where Virat Kohli projects the potency of a Novak Djokovic, Ajinkya Rahane is round-shouldered, with the air of a middling bureaucrat.

India's stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane celebrates his century at the MCG

On the eve of the Second Test, Ajinkya Rahane was asked, inevitably, for impressions of the First. He replied succinctly. India, he explained, had played well for two days, badly on the third. Yes, he consented, very badly. But only, mark him, for a day.

Well, onlookers nodded cautiously, that was one way of putting it, although it was also a kind of comment on the modern game. It might sound to us like a version of the clash of civilisations when “Australia” crush “India”. But to the participants, it’s ultimately one cricket match among many, and available to be rationalised away. Tomorrow is another day, even if that day might be Boxing Day.

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Rahane is also, by nature, an unobtrusive, matter-of-fact cricketer. At the fall of the second wicket yesterday, necks craned to establish who was coming in next. It had been unclear in advance whether Rahane would remain in his usual number five, or take on Virat Kohli’s batting responsibilities in addition to the leadership.

It took a few steps before confirmation that the figure beneath the helmet was not Hanuma Vihari. Indian batsmen are rather more recognisable than the days when a WACA ground announcer heralded the arrival of “Sir Neil Gavaskar”. Still, India’s locum captain hardly possesses the star power of its permanent captain.

Pete and Gideon see Australia facing an uphill battle in the second Test after Ajinkya Rahane’s classy century and a lacklustre day in the field. Also, Gideon reveals his first foray into journalism and gets to meet his hero. LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE

Where Kohli projects the potency and athleticism of a Novak Djokovic, Ajinkya Rahane is round-shouldered, slightly stooped, with the air of a middling bureaucrat, who would not look out of place in a railway ticket box or stamping passports. He looks much the same as when he first came to Australia nine years ago without forcing himself into the Test XI: unassuming, self-contained, quietly determined.

Rahane made a dashing hundred at the MCG in the Boxing Day Test of 2014, full of hawk-eyed hooks and pulls. That pitch was flatter than the Deccan Plateau, but he looked set to conquer the world.

He has not, quite. The reasons are elusive. Rahane is an unusual Indian batsman for playing pace better than spin, scoring better away than at home and, these days, happier in Tests than shorter formats; he has not played a one-day international since February 2018; he had a lousy time in the recent Indian Premier League. He is also a slightly sketchy starter, who likes bat on ball, and the confidence boost of early boundaries.

But if confidence is an issue, the captaincy may have come as a fillip. On the previous occasion on which Rahane deputised against Australia, at Dharamsala three and a half years ago, Kohli prowled the dressing room, attended the press conferences and generally continued to personify the team.

Rahane’s new commission is unqualified. He led the team out; he led the team in; he fielded sharply in the gully; he generalled his fielders from beneath a faded cap subtly marking his seniority. And if the cap fits …

Yesterday Rahane batted with calm and skill, befitting a 66-Test veteran. In the first 50, off 111 balls, there were some choice boundaries: a delectable late cut from Lyon, a nerveless pull from Hazlewood with two men back, an exquisitely fine glance off Starc to reach his half-century.

But there was also a lot of leaving, after fencing away from the body cost him his wicket in the tour matches, and a few not-how-but-how-many shots, glides to third man without pretence to style. When Paine pushed his solitary slip wider, Sod’s Law dictated that Rahane’s nick would find that gap too.

In Rahane’s second 50, off 84 balls, the class showed through, including off drives from Lyon and Cummins that veritably hummed off the bat, and a square cut from the latter to reach his century that recalled Gundappa Vishwanath here 40 years ago — and than that, there is no higher praise.

The crowd of 23,841 did a passable impression of many more, a score of tricolours fluttering. Tim Paine led chagrined but genuine applause on the field.

Rahane’s rival captain had earlier provided probably the day’s most brilliant moment, a perfectly-timed full-length dive to ensnare a dying edge from Cheteshwar Pujara. Pat Cummins bowled a leonine spell for an hour and a quarter from the Southern Stand End, maintaining his velocities, wobbling the seam, with 8-4-12-2 barely doing it justice.

When Cummins resumed after lunch, however, Rishabh Pant took 12 from his first over, recalling his bonny strokes here in India’s victory two years ago. Though Pant perished to a flat-footed cut and Shubman Gill to a careless drive, their intent prevented the innings growing becalmed. Vihari showed commendable stickability, Ravi Jadeja consummate spunk.

The second new ball might have done the trick for Australia, but Steve Smith, perhaps a yard close, could only parry a fast-flying edge from Rahane (73) in Starc’s first over. Thereafter, Rahane and Jadeja took advantage of the harder ball and attacking fields, adding 41 in nine rather ragged overs.

Rahane raised the pair’s hundred partnership, by powering Hazlewood through mid-off and not troubling to run. The 200th delivery he faced, from Starc, then clonked him on the glove and helmet, but the looping edge was jolted from the grasp of a diving Travis Head. With rain swirling, he left the field holding his headgear like one of those Elizabethan ghosts that haunt palaces with heads beneath their arms.

It was a suitably reverberating conclusion to a fantastic day’s cricket, and pause in a fantastic innings. Just a reminder: 128 balls was all it took to sweep all India away in Adelaide. But that was eight whole days ago.