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Just few days back Rahane was benched up during the Champions Trophy and as because Rohit Sharma is rested for the tour Rahane has been given a chance to open up with Shikhar dhawan 

As a matter of this series Rahane has performed exceptionally well and is giving out the best he has and has proven himself at almost every point of time whenever he has been given the opportunity to do so

The champ has given up a 50 in every game and a ton in the second ODI against West Indies and the way he plays his shots is exceptional, he has raised up his bat whenever the team required him

Scoring a patient 72, Rahane held one end up and kept the innings together till the 43rd over. The Mumbai batsman spoke about his hunger to score the runs and mentioned that he was prepared to go out there at the first opportunity.

“I was confident about myself. It was a matter of getting good runs and consistently,” Rahane said on Friday (June 30). “I was waiting for this chance, I would like to thank Virat and the team management that they gave me this opportunity to bat at the top of the order. I was in England and I wanted to work hard on my fitness, during the IPL season we didn’t get time to work on our fitness, luckily during the Champions Trophy, I got that time. Here, it is coming very handy in this hot weather.”

Rahane compared the two surfaces India have played on so far, and mentioned how Trinidad allowed them to play their shots freely but the wicket in Antigua played in a contrasting manner. Touching upon the need to be an adaptible batsman, Rahane spoke highly about how it was important to spend time at the crease.

“I am an instinctive player, I like to attack but see at the highest level, you have to adapt. The wicket was completely different to Trinidad. The ball was stopping, there was uneven bounce, we had to take our time,” Rahane noted. “Me and Mahi [MS Dhoni] bhai and Yuvi [Yuvraj Singh] paaji were batting, we were discussing about playing a long innings. We were thinking about scoring 225-230, but Mahi bhai batted really well. So on these kind of surfaces, you need to take your time, the Trinidad wicket was different, we were playing our shots, but here, wickets in hand was important,” he added.
Reflecting upon the hundred in the second ODI, Rahane went on to rate his innings as a perfect one for the situation. “Yes, I felt it was a perfect innings for me as an opening batsman. Before that game, I got 62 odd runs, I was batting really well, in the second game, I really wanted to make it count, the century felt really good.”

He also exuded confidence in his ability to pace the innings whenever the need be. “I can make up for it. I do practise different shots in the nets but in the game situation, you need to read the conditions and situation before playing those shots. I was completely comfortable in the middle, I knew I had taken some time but if I spent time in the middle, I knew I can make that count in the end. I was not worried at all and I don’t take things for granted,” Rahane added when asked about his hundred in the second game.