'He fought hard despite..': Sourav Ganguly lauds Indian batter's heroics against Australia

IND vs AUS: Team India batsman Ajinkya Rahane played the role of a savior during the third day of the IND vs AUS WTC Final and helped the team avoid the follow-on. Rahane played an innings of 89 runs off 129 deliveries and added the necessary 109 runs with Shardul Thakur which took the team to a respectable total of 296 in the first innings. Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has heaped praise for the former India Test vice-captain who was making a comeback in the team after more than one year. 

Former BCCI president Sourav Ganguly believes that Rahane's innings during the WTC Final vs Australia were one of the best comebacks knocks. The former India skipper while speaking to Star Sports said that Ajinkya Rahane had set an example for the other Indian batsman. The Indian team faced a batting collapse in the first innings and top names like Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Virat Kohli were removed by the Aussie bowlers under a score of 100 runs. 

READ: WTC Final, IND vs AUS live score

Sourav Ganguly lavishes praise on Ajinkya Rahane

How cool, 18 months later. He (Rahane) stayed away from Test cricket for 18 months, many of them dismissed him and maybe even himself. Coming back as a batsman in Indian cricket and making a statement is not easy. I think it's awesome. have come back many times before but not after so long. He was magnificent throughout his innings and fought hard despite the wickets falling at the other end. He will be very proud for what he has done for the Indian team till Lunch. He showed a lot to the dressing room that if you apply and if you have a bit of luck which India has, you will be able to bat on this pitch, credit goes to Rahane, he was brilliant, and Shardul Thakur too. He has batted well for India. It's a good fight for India.

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Ajinkya Rahane performed extremely well in domestic cricket and for the IPL 2023 Champions Chennai Super Kings in the past. It was one of the main reason behind his comeback in the national side. Returning to the IND vs AUS WTC Final, the Indian team had removed the top four Australian batsmen including Steve Smith and Travis Head, and now would be hoping to take the last six wickets as early as possible and also chase the down the target in the 4th innings.