Ajinkya Rahane said the criticism of them not playing short-ball well is unfair and the Test series loss in New Zealand was largely due to wind factor.
India's Ajinkya Rahane plays a shot during day one of the first Test cricket match between New Zealand and India at the Basin Reserve in Wellington on February 21, 2020. (Photo by Marty MELVILLE / AFP)
Insisting that Indians are not bad players of short-ball, Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane on Wednesday said the team’s bad run in New Zealand was largely due to the wind factor.
Rahane said the criticism that they do not play short-ball well does not hold any merit.
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“People are speaking too much about it (short balls). If you see Melbourne innings, we have dominated. We all play short-balls well, one game doesn’t make you bad players of short balls,” Rahane told reporters here.
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“They (NZ bowlers) used the breeze factor very well because in New Zealand it was the biggest factor, cutting the angle and pace. We have to stay focussed and positive and the next series is in Australia and there is a long way to go, looking forward to that.
“We have really done a good job in the last three-four years. Now Test Championship has started. In this journey, you are going to win and lose some matches,” he added.
Rahane also said that he was not overly worried about his own poor run.
“I am not too much worried about that and I am not going too much deep in that. Test Championship is all about one match and one series at a time, one match at a time because points are involved, because one bad game or two bad games will not make us bad team,” Rahane said.
“We learnt a lot from New Zealand series, they played well. As a team, there is some learning as batting and bowling unit.
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