Ajinkya Rahane reveals Virat Kohli never shared his run-chase secrets

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Team India great Ajinkya Rahane recently announced his retirement from international cricket. He spoke about his camaraderie with legendary cricketer Virat Kohli and also said that the Delhi-born cricketer would not reveal his secrets behind the run-chases.

“It is his mind and the calculation in his mind. But that’s his secret. I’ve tried to ask him many times, but he does not give it away. He will not give you any clue. His ability to take calculated risks at the perfect time is the key. MS Dhoni was like that too. But the calculations in Virat’s head were something else,” he said on the ‘Stick to Cricket’ podcast.

The former cricketer then said that the reason behind developing successful partnerships with him was frank communication. Rahane also revealed that he and Kohli used to spend a lot of time with each other off the field.

“We complemented each other very well because of his aggressive nature and my calm nature. The reason behind our successful partnerships was the positive and frank communication. We had many good partnerships against Australia. And in those, whenever Virat thought of going against a particular bowler and if my response was positive, he would do it better,” said the 38-year-old former cricketer.

“Virat always liked people coming after him. And he used to ask me if he should sledge the opposition player back. I would tell him, ‘Yes, go for it’ as that’s what worked for him. Our camaraderie was great, and we used to spend a lot of time with each other even off the field. We used to talk a lot about cricket, which you don’t see nowadays. He was always positive and used to tell me never to hesitate in attacking a bowler,” he added.

The veteran of 85 Test matches said that Kohli used to allow him to display an attacking approach from the very first ball.

“He was always positive. He said, ‘Just play your game’. For me, naturally I was.. I’m an attacking cricketer, attacking batsman. So he said, ‘If you feel like going after a particular bowler, don’t hesitate at all’. So he was always positive. He never told me, ‘Okay, let’s see how it feels, let’s see, or take out 10-15 balls and then play your game’. ‘If you feel like going after the first ball, go for it’,” he concluded.

Ajinkya Rahane’s statistics in international cricket

In 195 international matches, he has scored 8,414 runs in 251 innings at an average of 35.95, with 15 centuries and 51 fifties, with a best score of 188.

(With ANI Inputs)

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