Virat was and will always be the captain of the Test team: Ajinkya Rahane

During the third day of the Adelaide Test, the hostile Australian bowling attack bundled out India for a paltry 36. The dismal batting performance from India received a lot of criticism. 

Furthermore, Virat Kohli returned to India to be with his wife for the birth of their first child. The visitors received another jolt when Mohammed Shami suffered a wrist fracture and was ruled out of the remainder of the Test series. Several people speculated Australia to assert complete dominance in the last three tests as well. But, it's completely hard to write off a team just after the conclusion of the first time and that too a team like India who have played a tremendous brand of cricket over the last four years. 

Despite all the hardships, Team India under Ajinkya Rahane staged one of the greatest comebacks in the history of test cricket to retain the Border Gavaskar Trophy. Prior to the series, Virat Kohli had envisioned vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane to do a tremendous job leading the team in his absence. 

I am sure he (Rahane) will do a tremendous job in my absence. The vision remains simply to put in good performances and make sure that we are competing in every game. The idea is to win the series," - Kohli was then quoted as saying during the media interaction. 

After the historic series win in Australia, several crickets pundits recommended Ajinkya Rahane to continue leading the side in Tests. However, Rahane is quite happy to be Virat Kohli's deputy. 

"Nothing changes. Virat was and will always be the captain of the Test team and I am his deputy. When he was absent, it was my duty to lead the side and my responsibility to give my best for Team India's success," Rahane was quoted as saying by PTI.

He said his rapport with the Indian skipper has always been smooth. "Me and Virat have always shared a good bonding with each other. He has, time and again, praised my batting. Both of us played memorable knocks for our team in India and overseas conditions. It only helped that Virat comes at No. 4 and myself at No. 5 - we have had a lot of partnerships." - he added. 

Reflecting on the Virat Kohli's captaincy attributes, he said: "Virat is a sharp captain. He takes good on-field decisions. Whenever the spinners are in operation, he is banking on me and he believes that taking those catches at slips off [R] Ashwin and [Ravindra] Jadeja is one of my core competence areas." 

Ever since assuming the full-time captaincy duties, Virat himself has set exacting fitness standards and high tempo for his teammates to obey. Interestingly, the characteristics of the skipper also stimulated his teammates to fabricate the same intensity on the field - which was quite evident in the last three Tests in Australia. India head coach, Ravi Shastri also highlighted that it was Virat Kohli's relentless effort in building the team over the last 6 years that reaped rewards for India. 

Virat Kohli - Records as captain 

• Virat Kohli has won 33 Test matches - the most by an Indian captain in Tests. 
• First Asian captain to win a Test series in Australia. 
• He is the first captain to have scored 1,000+ Test runs for three calendar years on the trot.
• He is also the fastest batsman to score 4,000 runs as captain in Tests.
• Most number of 150+ scores by a captain in Test Cricket. 
• The statistics don't lie, do they? 

[PTI input]