Ajinkya Rahane leads from the front, scores an impactful 50 in Ind-Aus Boxing Day Test

Skipper Ajinkya Rahane turned up when his team needed him the most with a vital half-century on Day 2 of the ongoing Boxing Day Test match against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Rahane is India's stand-in captain not only for this match, but also for the remainder of the series as regular skipper Virat Kohli has flown back to India on paternity leave. 

Coming back to the contest, 'Jinx' has shown that he is not being burdened with the added responsibility of leading the Indian side in a must-win contest after being completely outplayed in the first Test at the Adelaide Oval last week.

'Great knock under pressure'

As the Mumbai batsman scored his 23rd half-century in the game's longest format, netizens came forward to laud him for playing a captain's knock under pressure. Here are some of the reactions.

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 Ajinkya Rahane playing a captain's knock

After India were reduced to 64/3 in the first session of Day 2, stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane took matters into his own hands and ensured that there were no further hiccups and added a 52-run stand for the fourth-wicket with Hanuma Vihari before the latter was dismissed. The Test specialist then went on to add 57 runs along with wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant for the fifth-wicket stand and when the youngster caught behind by his Australian counterpart Tim Paine off Mitchell Starc for 29, Team India lost half their side with 173 runs on the board. At the same time, this is also the first individual fifty in the match. Australia's number four batsman Marnus Labuschagne had scored 48 on Day 1 before Ajinkya Rahane surpassed him.

However, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy holders will be relieved that Rahane is still out in the middle. He is still going strong on 53 and has lower middle-order batsman Ravindra Jadeja alongside him who is unbeaten on 4 as India are 189/5 at tea break and need just six runs to overhaul Australia's first innings total. 

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