Ajinkya Rahane is a team man and one of India's most valuable players

Nobody can stop the clock from ticking but special players have the ability to slow it down They seemed to have more time than lesser mortals to process the information their eyes provide and for their body to respond appropriately Kumar Sangakkara had this rare gift and cricket will be poorer after his departure He was indeed a true ambassador of the game on and off the fieldAlso ReadRavichandran Ashwin is a champion bowler for us Virat KohliIndias Ajinkya Rahane en route his 126 against SL on Sunday PicSolaris ImagesWhile the second Test match between Sri Lanka and India will always be remembered for Sangakkaras last Test match it might also be looked at as the steppingstone for this young Indian Test team under Kohli After winning the first Test in Galle it was quite certain that Sri Lanka would dish out a nice batting surface for the second Test and they didnt disappointAlso ReadCheteshwar Pujara will open with KL Rahul says Virat KohliThe pitch thats notoriously famous for helping seam bowlers had negligible help for all kinds of bowlers in this Test match and thats why this Indian win is special The Indians played a classic Test match in which they kept tightening the noose a little everyday for the first four days and then went for the kill on the fifth The lesson from Galle was not to lose a session so badly that you cant recover and India ensured that Even though a few sessions went Sri Lankas way India neither lost five or more wickets nor leaked over 150 runs in one session the lid never came offRahuls fine recordIt was also interesting to see how life comes a full circle Shikhar Dhawan got a new lease of life because KL Rahul was down with dengue and now Rahul stayed in the XI because Dhawan injured his right hand in the first Test match But it isnt always about the number of opportunities you get but what you do with them and thats where Rahul has been exceptional His two centuries in just the four Test matches has also opened a whole new possibility mdash he might be asked to bat at No 3 when both Dhawan and Murali Vijay are available Thatll also push Rahane to a number that hes more comfortable withWhile talking of Rahane its almost imperative to use the word team man in the same sentence Hes been shunted up and down the order ever since hes started playing international cricket but hes never allowed this to bog him down On the contrary hes lapped up the new challenges and become Indias most valuable player in the longer format His ton in the second innings laid the foundation for Indias final push for victory Its in his and teams interest that hes given an uninterrupted stint at a number of his liking for too much tinkering with the batting order can be counterproductive In my assessment hes best suited to bat at No 5Super AshwinIts time to shift focus on the bowlers for batsmen can only set up matches and its only the bowlers who can win them Since it was a good batting surface its only fair that their efforts are highlighted even more R Ashwin once again has quite nonchalantly assumed the role of leading this Indian attackThe dip the turn the drift and the bounce hes getting tells you that hes on top of his game and that augurs well for the long home season this winter Mishra has looked effective in patches and the two fast bowlers also contributed at crucial junctures Bowling is always considered to be Indias Achilles Heel but in this Test match they were simply flawless