File photo of Ajinka Rahane (far left) gesturing to Virat Kohli after the latter got run out of a false call.
Ajinkya Rahane will be shouldering a big responsibility in Melbourne on Saturday when he will come out to lead India only for the third time in Tests against Australians, who are brimming with confidence after mauling India in Adelaide.
However, before he takes upon the challenge, the stand-in skipper is yet to deal with the anger of Indian fans. The middle-order batsman was at fault for running out Virat Kohli in the first Test when the Indian captain was approaching his first century of the year and was looking firmly in control of his 74-run innings. Rahane was criticised for tracking back after making a call that caught Kohli way out of the crease and already committed for the run.
Watch the run out below.
The stand-in skipper on Friday, on the eve of the Boxing Day Test match, admitted he was at fault for the run-out and apologised to Kohli for the mistake.
"It was really tough, we were going well at that moment. The partnership was going well and good. I could see the momentum going towards Australia. After the end of day's play, I said sorry to him. He was okay. He understood it but such things happen in cricket and we have to respect it," said Rahane during the virtual press conference.
Rahane drove the ball to the left of mid-off and started to run. Kohli, in response, started running immediately but Rahane decided to bail out. Running from the non-striker's end, Kohli was left stranded in the middle as Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon completed the run out to hand India a massive blow.
Rahane apologised to Kohli on the ground right after the run-out as the latter was just 26 runs shy of levelling Ricky Ponting's record of 71 international hundreds. Kohli, however, refrained from showing any emotions and walked back quietly after the mishap.
