Rahane Reveals Joy of Batting with Kohli in Test Cricket

In some ways, it could be said the from the onset of 2014-2018, the stable of Indian Cricket, particularly in the longest format of the game, got to see a strong bond between the wickets and with the bat in action between Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli. Now, both are retired with one retiring from all formats of the game while the other continues to focus on just the men’s one day format but back in the day, the Rahane-Kohli partnership was something akin to the fire-and-ice combination. Rather interestingly, Ajinkya Rahane, 12 Test tons to his name, has recently shared the very fact that while he not only admired Virat Kohli for his aggressive attitude with the cricket bat and as seen on the field, he even enjoyed batting with him for the country particularly where it came to the long format of the sport. Rahane said "I really enjoyed batting with Virat. We complemented each other really well. The aggressive nature of Virat and my calm nature really helped us a lot. I feel the reason for this partnership is always the positive communication we had, what we used to feel when we… pic.twitter.com/Fd3yiEnENP And having said that, just so you can get a sense of how strong the bond between the two batters particularly in Test match cricket was, it’s highly important to stress on the sort of inspirational numbers that the duo set out to achieve and fetch for their country. Perhaps it would please even the harshest critic of Indian cricket to pay sincere regard to the very fact together Rahane and Virat were responsible for conjuring 3,600 plus Test match runs together from as many as 67 test innings. As per reports, this figure included 12 century-run stands. Moreover, there were somewhere around 14-17 fifty run stands between the two dazzling Indian batters. Somewhere Ajinkya Rahane does miss playing Test match cricket and while that is true, what’s also true is that he simply relished the idea of batting and amassing runs together with the great Virat Kohli on the other end. He’s himself shared very recently that together, the duo were able to complement each other’s batting tendencies and temperament. Virat Kohli’s agressive attitude and temperament sort of played the perfect foil to Ajinkya Rahane’s calm approach at the other end. And truth be told, somewhere it’s a shame that the two have retired when they could so easily have contributed more to Test match cricket for India’s cause. Glad that Kohli is still around for the future fifty over format contests!