Cheeky Rahane hits out at critics

‘I am happy people are talking about me -- I always believe people talk about important people. I am not too concerned about that. It is all about contribution for the team.’

India Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane on Monday said that he is not too bothered about the constant scrutiny around his form in the longest format.

The first Test ended in a draw but India staged an incredible comeback to take the second game by 151 runs at the Lord's Cricket Ground.

Both sides will now lock horns in the third Test, beginning Wednesday at Headingley, Leeds.

Heading into the series, there was a lot of chatter around Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara's form or lack thereof.

"I am happy people are talking about me -- I always believe people talk about important people. I am not too concerned about that. It is all about contribution for the team. Cheteshwar and I have been playing for long, we know how to handle pressure and certain situations. We are not concerned about them. We are focusing on the team. We just want to contribute for the side, whatever we cannot control, we are not thinking about that," said Rahane while replying to an ANI query during a virtual press conference.

In the second innings of the second Test, Rahane and Pujara shared a crucial 100 run stand and this helped India post a respectable score on the board.

"My innings was really satisfying in the second Test. I always believe in contributions and for me, I always think about the team. That knock of 61 in the Lord's Test was really satisfying. It was all about hanging in there, communication was all about thinking about small targets and building on from there.

“We always talk about Pujara playing slow, but his innings was really important, he batted for 200 balls. We backed each other -- I thought communication was really good. We knew 170-180 could have been a very good score on that wicket," said Rahane.

"Everything motivates me, playing for country motivates me a lot. I am not bothered about criticism. People only criticise important people, I am happy they are criticising me. I only focus on controllables. Team performance is the ultimate goal, you think about your plans and methods, but ultimately it is all for the team. We just focus on that," he added.

Talking about the upcoming third Test, Rahane said: "2014 and 2018 is past now, we are not thinking about that. We are not taking it lightly, whatever happened in the last game was special but we have moved on and we are focused on the next Test. We are taking it one match at a time, win or lose, it is important to stay in the present. We are confident about our unit… we have been playing some good cricket and it is about staying in the moment and focusing on the next match."

"We are not thinking too much about the conditions and whatever Headingley has to offer. We just want to give our best, all players are in a good headspace and it is about putting our best foot forward," he added.

"When you are playing in the UK, your line and lengths are very important and that's a challenge as a bowling unit. In 2014 when we came here, we were a young unit, the guys were still learning. Now we are experienced.        

"All the bowlers have played all over the world, they know how to bowl in certain situations. We focussed on bowling in the right areas."

He said in England it's about finding your rhythm as a batsman and as a bowler.

"It's not challenging really. When you get the rhythm, it's about maintaining it and just being confident about yourself. I don't see any difficulty playing at Headingley.

"It's all in the mind, mentally we are strong. All the players are in a good space."

The Lord's Test saw verbal duels from both sides. Asked if mental disintegration of rival players is important, Rahane did not agree.

"We are not thinking anything like that. For us it is important to stay in the moment. Whatever happened in the last game we just have to forget and just take the positives. Every game is important due to the Championships (WTC)," he said.

Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah did the unthinkable when they added 89 runs for the unbeaten ninth wicket when India were reduced to 209/8. That stand took the game away from England.

Asked of tail-enders' batting affect rival team's openers.

"It does affect the batsmen. They keep thinking about their batting when 7-8 wickets fall. You can see they started practising shadow batting in slips, they start jumping (warming up), start doing foot work.

"This tail partnership mentally exhausts the batsmen. That was a good sign for us in last matches. Credit to them. They themselves want to bat after bowling, it feels good to know they want to contribute with the bat as well."

Regarding team update, Rahane said Shardul Thakur is "fit and fine".

"He is ready for selection. We just have to see what combination we are going with. About rotation, we got very good break after the last Test so all the fast bowlers are ready to play, which is a very good sign," he concluded.