He is one of our top players: Rohit Sharma on speculation over Ajinkya Rahane’s form

Team India captain Rohit Sharma said
on Saturday that he feels fellow batsman Ajinkya Rahane has always made his
presence felt and proved his mettle as a batsman whenever the team has been in
need. The two built-up a 162-run partnership in the first day of second Test, with
India closing their innings at 300 runs with the loss of six wickets at stumps,
PTI reported.

“Ajinkya, he is one of our top
players. He has done extremely well and played some crucial knocks (over the
years). He has time and again shown that when the team needs a batsman to stand
up, he has done that many times,” Sharma, who scored a century on the
first day, was quoted by PTI as saying about the gritty top-order veteran.

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Noting the importance of building a
partnership, especially after the loss of three wickets before lunch, the skipper
praised Rahane for displaying his calibre once again in the tricky situation,
which fired up the Indian innings.

He further expressed signs of
annoyance over questions rising regarding Rahane’s form due to the latter not
getting runs in seven consequent innings, saying he did not understand why the talks
were taking place.

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Sharma said he felt 350 runs would a
good total to defend on the surface, adding his expectation of latter batsmen
such as Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel to bat as long as possible.