How a small technical tweak and strong mindset powered Ajinkya Rahane’s 89

There was a sequence of three balls in the middle of the third day at the Oval that captured the entire career of Ajinkya Rahane. The first, a nip-backer from Cameron Green caught him on the crease, neither precisely forward nor back, a staple sight in his down days, and it triggered an lbw appeal. Rahane has already survived a lbw on Thursday, as it proved to be a no-ball. The second was fuller and outside off and Rahane threw his hands at it, and the ball scooted over the slips. Those hands can often betray him, but he has done one quiet tweak that we shall soon attend to. The third was a fine back-of-length kicker outside off, and Rahane creamed it dreamily on-the-up through extra cover. The magic of timing and the ability to find gaps has been a wondrous trait over the years. That hasn’t waned one bit. Three balls, three Rahane responses – the ugly, bad, and good.

Around this time, Kumar Sangakkara spoke on the radio. “Where you are making contact is more important than where you are standing, whether you are outside the crease like Marnus Labuschagne or on the line like Rahane or Travis Head. You have the most control at the moment of touch. You maintain control over your hands and the situation with your head, and you don’t let go of that control. The hands, the key of Rahane’s batting, are nailed. It’s what gives him that wonderful timing, yet it can also lead to stabbed edges when it betrays him.

Here is the change he made, which is evident in this game. He is currently holding the bat with one touch down in stance. The bat is still elevated in the air — tap-the-pitchers are uncommon today — but the face of the bat points downward and it is raised below the bails, bringing it much closer to the ground. In the past, he would pull it up higher after having it practically horizontally in line with the bails or above. And rather frequently, the bat would rear excessively. The downward bat swing would then start from that point. The problems would begin there. His wrist-cock would then drag the bat down from there, albeit this process was occasionally tumultuous. Or, as Sangakkara puts it, out of control.

The hands’ position has become much more motionless. The bat is held in place by a touch. The bowler raises the bat as he enters the crease quickly and gets ready to release. It no longer breaches too high into uncontrolled zones. As a result, the downward swing is likewise much smoother. He is in charge; read more. The head is also more in control when the hands become more calm. With the hands in charge, he doesn’t feel particularly upright either.

He has previously struggled with another aspect. He would defend effectively, appearing to be on the front foot, but because of his short stride, he would constantly get caught in the crease, which would result in deadly edges or lbw. Although it still occurs, as it has a couple times this inning as well, he is able to play later than usual since he is more composed mentally and physically. He frequently modified to Scott Boland’s and Pat Cummins’ straighteners to bunt the ball out late to the off side. All of those would have resulted in rushed stabs with the previous bat-trigger; not so with this one. Following his fifty, he began to go for more shots, some of those. The simplicity of some of Head’s shots to length and back of length balls was astounding. Although his setup is not visually appealing, he frequently used an inclined bat to drive reasonably straight balls through the off side. He can retain his balance, compress his arms, and punch balls even on, off and through cover point because of a special wrist-cock that his hitting coach Tim Nielsen has mentioned. Rahane is also capable of launching raspy wrist-punches to comparable balls via cover point.

That brings us to the rather important facet: his headspace. In the past, it’s not as if he had restricted himself or gone into a shell, but if anything had reduced himself to counter-attacking cameos. He is better than that. His raw talent should have propped him up alongside Virat Kohli, Joe Root, and Kane Williamson, and more than three, he can unfurl dreamy raspy shots, but things haven’t got that way. Life. Sport.

Rahane alone would know how much that aided him, but it was obvious that he needed that kind of guidance and assistance. In the early years, when he appeared to be at the peak of his ability, he was inexplicably benched from games, with cumulative effects that only he would know. But speaking with someone like Waugh could only have been beneficial.

He has always been a cool, collected, and in-control kind of guy who also seems like he might have used a little more help throughout the middle of his career. While those closest to him would frequently discuss various topics, he has generally remained silent. His team-man attitude was always clear and ended up serving as his calling card.

The previous time he was dropped, it felt like the last straw, but he now has a second opportunity and is dealt a difficult but exciting situation: India is down and presumably out, and he could once again be the boy on the burning deck.