3rd Test: The wicket is challenging, not dangerous, says Ajinkya Rahane

Indian batsman Ajinkya Rahane plays a shot during the third day of the third test match between South Africa and India at Wanderers cricket ground on January 26 2018 in Johannesburg Pic AFPInsisting that Indian players have played on worse tracks back home vice captain Ajinkya Rahane termed the Wanderers pitch as challenging and not dangerous Rahane said match should continue tomorrow and cited South Africas tactics to justify resumption Rahane scored 48 off 68 balls as India finished with 247 runs in their second innings setting a 241run target for South AfricaPlay was halted in the last 15 minutes because Dean Elgar got hit twice in one over never mind that the Indian batsmen took several blows through the day The wicket was definitely challenging but if you see our openers batted so well The wicket was similar for both teams Murali Vijay got 25 runs and he faced 130140 balls It was completely the same for everyone Our approach was that we want to play and win this Test match Rahane saidThe Indian vice captain said no one stopped South Africa bowlers from bowling bouncers to their tailenders in similar conditions What about the fact when they were bowling short balls to our bowlers The pitch behaved differently on all three days but when Ishant Sharma Bhuvneshwar Kumar Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah they were batting and everyone was bowling bouncers Rahane asked Pitches were a huge subject of debate when South Africa toured India in 2015Nagpur pitch was reported as unfit after match finished in three days on a rank turner Rahane said that Indian cricketers have played on worse wickets than the Wanderers Many times when you see local cricket in Mumbai Kanga league for example you have played on more dangerous pitches than this But as a cricketer when you represent your country whatever challenges are ahead of you you have to face that and overcome thatAnd you cannot call it a dangerous wicket just because Elgar got hit Most of the batsmen got hit even Amla got hit in first innings Vijay Pujara batted well in 1st innings Virat batted well they got hit Rahane said India never made exuses while batting in similar conditions We never complained about it being a dangerous wicket They prepared this wicket we never told them to prepare a track like this In India when we play on turning tracks they are called more dangerousWe all knew that when we come to South Africa we will get wickets like this We have to be prepared to play on these kinds of wickets he added Talking about the ball which hit Elgar on the helmet Rahane saidI think the ball was back of a length and it kicked off Slightly more bounce than usual but if you see the wicket and see the bounce here it was completely natural Even when Bhuvi and I were batting or Vijay was batting against the new ball we faced the sameIt is not dangerous and it is completely similar for both teams he added Talking further about Elgar getting hit and players going off the Indian vicecaptain said I dont want to comment on that South Africa eager to get off But batting against the new ball is challenging You cannot call it a dangerous wicket though When Hashim Amla got 60odd in the first innings no one was talking about that Everyone was talking about his innings and how he playedUnfortunately Elgar got hit on his head and I hope hes fine Rahane was left out of the first two Tests in favour of Rohit Sharma But he returned like a man possessed and stroked his way to a near halfcentury on a very tough wicket I was visualizing when I was sitting in the dressing room I was thinking what my approach was going to be because only survival was not the point on this wicket as we wanted to score runsI was actually thinking from last night what are the important shots on this wicket I wanted to put South Africa on the backfoot because they were dominating with their bowling I was just thinking about going aggressive If the ball is there to be hit I will play my shot and thats it he said My behaviour off the field is different from my batting because opponents some times see how you are aggressive off the field I try and bat according to the situation This was an opportunity for me because I thought if I perform here I would be a hero So my thinking was completely positive and even scoring 3040 runs would be very good on this wicket I was aggressive like I played against Australia in Dharamsala and my intention was to dominate South African bowling he addedCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go