Dravid tips helped me: Rahane

Ajinkya Rahane, who scored a duck with the bat, more than made up with his fielding, pulling off a stunning eight catches in the Test match to create a new world record. The self-confessed Rahul Dravid admirer said tips from the slip-catching legend helped him to stay focused at close-in positions.

“We had a very good talk during IPL,” said Rahane about Dravid’s influence in his catching. “He told me about what he used to do when he used to stand in the slips. He told me that focus and concentration were the really important things. In Test matches sometimes ball will not come for a long time and suddenly you have to grab that one chance that comes. That temperament has to be there and I have been working on my slip catching and my overall fielding. Credit to the support staff as well. They did a good job.”

India are chasing a tricky 176 for victory and Rahane sounded confident about taking a 1-0 lead. “Our intention is to stay positive. Virat (Kohli) and Shikhar (Dhawan) got very good hundreds in the first innings. Each and every batsman is in good touch. So I am confident about tomorrow. Yes, we have to bat well. We respect the opposition. Focus and concentration will be the key for the first one hour.

“The chase will definitely be challenging, they also have two good spinners and they have an experienced attack too. But our plan will be to bat to our strengths, which is what we did in the first innings — to back our strengths.”

Rahane also hailed Chandimal for his brilliant effort. “Chandimal played some good sweep shots and good lap shots also to Amit Mishra over square-leg. We were just talking about cutting down boundaries and giving them singles and maybe after tea, we came back really well.”