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McGrath-Rahane
Throughout India's second test against Australia at Melbourne, Ajinkya Rahane harassed the Australian bowlers all the way. The stand-in skipper was up with a great show while shouldering his responsibilities. Rahane also scored in his 12th Test century at MCG. His ton let the visitors have the upper hand over Australia on day two of the Boxing Day Test. The batsman was supported well enough by adept all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. Jadeja scored 40 runs at the end of Day 2.
After Rahane's brilliant knock, veteran paceman Glenn McGrath cranked up to appreciate his efforts. Glenn mentioned how the captaincy reins brought out the best of Rahane as a batsman, and he got his aggressive side.
The 32-year-old becomes the first Indian cricketer to have smashed a century in ongoing India vs Australia Test Series. Maharashtra's right-handed batsman achieved the feat with a four in the 88th over, bowled by Pat Cummins. He took 195 balls to hit his century. Rahane is now the second Indian batsman to score a century as captain in Australia. Kohli was the first captain to do it back in 2014 when he hit a century in Adelaide.
Team India needs to do a lot of work: Agarkar
The Indian side was lurching at 64/3 and looked vulnerable yet again before the stand-in skipper steeped in. Rahane stitched a good partnership of 52 runs with Vihari to push the side ahead. In the same spirit, former Indian bowler Ajit Agarkar praised his innings while referring it as the marathon innings.
He feels Rahane has played a type of innings that generally Pujara plays. Pujara devastates the Australian fast bowlers by batting for long periods. His century will give a lot of belief to the others in the absence of India's finest batsman Virat Kohli.
Team India ended the second day comfortably scoring 277 runs at the loss of 5 wickets. The men in blue are 82 runs ahead of the hosts Aussies dismantled for 195 in the first innings. Rahane scored 104* whereas all-rounder Jadeja was with him at the crease on 40. The duo has added an unbeaten 104 for the sixth wicket. If these two batsmen stick around for a bit longer on day 3, then team India could be in for the substantial first-innings lead.