At the MCG, Rahane once again showed he loves the big stage

Big burly Mitchell Johnson bounded up to bowl the 101st over. The first ball was predictably short. Ajinkya Rahane’s reaction was anything but predictable. He was ready, cleared his front foot and hammered Johnson to cow corner with a flat-batted pull.

Three balls later, Rahane backed away to leg – not out of fear – but to make room to drive a full delivery from Johnson past mid-off. All three stumps were on display when bat met ball. It was audacious and thrilling batting.

Rahane wasn’t done either. Johnson responded with another bouncer to end the over and Rahane flat-batted him through midwicket for the third boundary of the over.

At the end of the over, Johnson had figures of 0 for 113 from 24 overs. He had been completely neutralised, reduced to Australia’s version of Mohammed Shami.

A few hours earlier the game had looked very different. When Rahane walked out to bat, Shane Watson had just dismissed Murali Vijay, who had been India’s rock, for 68. India were 147 for 3, having lost two wickets in the first hour of play. Momentum was leaning Australia’s way, even if Virat Kohli was already batting as if in a dream at the other end.

Kohli had middled the ball from the start. There was an ominous crack when he drove Ryan Harris through the covers for his first boundary. It echoed around the ground like a warning shot. Kohli was present and accounted for at the MCG. Chasing 530, what India needed was someone to stick with him.

Rahane did more than that. He took the attack to the Australians and together with Kohli, put the pressure on the home side instead. The result was a 262-run partnership - India’s highest in a decade outside Asia - as Australia cracked under the strain.

His innings began with a flourish and a half-chance. An outside edge off Nathan Lyon snuck between keeper and first slip and brought Rahane his first boundary. Rahane could have allowed the false stroke to sow seeds of doubt. Instead, he leaned forward and eased the next ball straight down the ground for back-to-back boundaries.

“I was thinking positive and so was he [Rahane>, said Kohli at the post-match press conference. “We were on the same wavelength. I told him to back himself to play his shots. So if he wanted to go for a four, I told him play without any doubts. That is important.”

Two more boundaries flowed from Rahane’s bat in the next over bowled by Josh Hazlewood and you felt a subtle shift in the tempo of the game. India were no longer grinding. They were prepared to take Australia on and see how their bowlers reacted to being challenged.

Turns out, not very well.

While Kohli took to standing a foot outside the crease to disrupt the bowlers’ lengths, Rahane was content to go back deep in his crease to cut and drive Lyon through the offside against the spin. He also took on the fast bowlers and played the pull more often than any Indian batsmen in recent memory, aside from Kohli. Hazlewood and Johnson did their best to unsettle him with the short ball but Rahane wasn’t about to back down. It was the Australian bowlers whose heads drooped instead.

Rahane benefitted from a second stroke of good fortune when he chipped a half-volley gently back to Lyon, only for the bowler to let the ball slip through his hands. It could be argued that Rahane was playing so well, Lyon did not expect a mistake. When the chance came, he wasn’t mentally ready to take it.

The reprieve forced Rahane to tighten up and he picked up just four from his next 16 deliveries. But once he had regained his equilibrium, the strokes began to gush again. Harris was driven past mid-on and then absolutely and disdainfully crushed through point. Rahane then caught and passed Kohli, getting to his hundred before his partner, who had a 26-run head-start.

Rahane would eventually succumb for a personal best 147, trapped lbw trying to sweep Lyon, but he had taken India past 400 and towards a position of strength. A late collapse – India lost a further 4 for 51 after Rahane got out – swung the game back towards Australia but did not take away from Rahane’s brilliance. India’s bowlers got a lot of stick, deservedly so, for their wayward bowling in the first innings but Rahane showed that Australia’s attack could be undermined too if a batsman was prepared to take them on.

“I was really determined to bat [well> here,” Rahane said at the end of the day. “I know I am batting really well. It was just a matter of one good innings.”

This hundred is Rahane’s third this year and third away from home. He now has hundreds in New Zealand, England and Australia, plus a 96 in South Africa. He has benefitted greatly from Praveen Amre’s tutelage. In particular, Amre’s use of baseball techniques has helped Rahane hit the ball with more authority, a necessity on big grounds like the MCG.

“It’s all about bio-mechanics,” Amre told DNA. “Tennis, baseball, cricket and a number of sports follow similar principles like hand-eye coordination, focus. Baseball players use their core muscles — abdomen and back — to generate power. I made some adjustments to his back-lift and he started hitting the ball better.”

That training is helping to turn Rahane into a dependable run-maker in tough conditions, the kind of player India sorely need. Just as importantly, his knock, alongside Kohli’s, has kept India in the game. It is now up to India’s bowlers to match the standards these two batsmen have set.