At one stage of the game, India had lost three wickets for 102 runs in the first innings of the second Test against the Windies, and were looking in trouble.
Cricket news: The duo shared a partnership of 152 runs in the first innings of the second Test
It seemed for the first time in the series the Windies had the upper hand as out on the crease was out-of-form Ajinkya Rahane and inexperienced Rishabh Pant.
It was then that the duo fired and built a wonderful partnership of 152 runs for the fifth wicket, which was also assisted by some dropped catches from the Windies side.
When Windies skipper Jason Holder dismissed the Indian vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane, India had gone from 102/3 to 314/5.
In an interview Rahane shared his experiences while partnering with the aggressive Pant. He said that he was a bit hard to control Pant’s natural instincts and at the end he was happy with the way they had managed everything.
“It was good fun. Yesterday (Day 2), I was trying to control him. We needed one partnership to put West Indies down. It was hard to control him, but he controlled his aggression and batted well,” Rahane said after India sealed the series on Sunday.
Rahane also added that he was happy to spend some time at the crease and the inning will give him added confidence ahead of the all-important Australia tour. Moreover he praised pacer Umesh Yadav for his efforts even when India was a pacer short due to Shardul Thakur’s injury.
“I wanted to bat long and this innings really helped me. This series I wanted to spend time and create some good batting habits. Throughout the series, we’ve played really well, especially our batsmen. But credit to Umesh Yadav. We were a bowler short and he bowled magnificently,” he said.
Rahane scored a healthy 80 when an extra bounce from Holder surprised him and got better of him. Pant was once again dismissed on 92 for a second consecutive time on the same score. India put on 367 in their first innings and had a sizeable lead which they capitulated from and won the match easily.