India treating Melbourne and Sydney games as two-match Test series, says Ajinkya Rahane

Insisting that the seven-day break before the Boxing day Test has rejuvenated the team, India vice captain Ajinkya Rahane said on Monday that they were treating the remaining two matches in Melbourne and Sydney as a two-Test series and forget what happened in Perth.

Australia bounced back from a loss in the first Test by overpowering India in the second Test in Perth and the Indian team selection and reading of the playing conditions came under tremendous scrutiny. The team then took a three day break to refresh and has been preparing for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne since Saturday.

“Yes I do believe in momentum and it is important. We had our chances in Perth and had we grabbed them, the result could have been different. But, its 1-1 in the Test series and we would have taken this scoreline when we reached Australia.

“In a Test match, it is how you play the sessions in the Test match and we want to look at the next two Tests as a two-Test series and win it. The break after the two Tests was important. Sometimes it can backfire as team’s can lose momentum but I think it was good for the Indian team to restart again,” he added.

Speaking about his own batting on the Tour, the 30-year-old middle order batsman said he was confident of making a big hundred given the way he batted in the first two Tests and insisted that adopting a counter attacking strategy against the Australians was a well thought out plan.

“Batting at 4 or 5, reading the situation is really important. We all know the Australian attack. They come really hard at you and the best option is to go out in the middle and putting them on the back foot is really important rather than just taking your time.

Sometimes it is important to take your time. But we have (Cheteshwar) Pujara who actually takes his time really well. But batting at 4 or 5 you really have to think ahead of the game. One has to think two steps ahead and think about the counter attack,” he added.

Rahane also refused to speak about the probably starting line-up for the third Test as there were still two days to go and the team management would think about it after Tuesday’s net session.

On R Ashwin’s fitness, the India vice captain just said that physio Patrick Farhat was accessing the off spinner and would be in a better position to answer that question.