Ajinkya Rahane and wife Radhika: Divided by a boundary rope, united by a 'century'

 

New Delhi: When all eyes were glued on Cheteshwar Pujara, who was skipping from one milestone to another, there was one person in the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo, who was praying only for Ajinkya Rahane.  Radhika Dhopavkar, Rahane’s wife was all nerves till the time he was batting in the nineties. And it was only when Rahane scampered through for a quick single to complete his 9th Test ton and more importantly a welcome return to form, that she breathed easy and almost subconsciously murmured “Finally”.

Finally! She said, after @ajinkyarahane88 gets to a well-made 9th Test century #TeamIndia #SLvIND pic.twitter.com/l1HlAM95x2

— BCCI (@BCCI) August 3, 2017

Rahane quite truly had to wait for a long time to get to the three figure mark. His last hundred came against New Zealand 11 Test matches ago. Although there were little doubts about his place in the side as he was never really short of runs, scoring a fifty here and there but a substantial score had been eluding the stylish right hander for long. India’s vice captain took advantage of a dead Sri Lankan bowling line up to craft his way to 103 with at a brisk rate of 61.30. The anxiousness of Rahane turned into exuberance as it brushed off his wife in the stands. Radhika’s emotions after Rahane’s hundred were such that it overpowered the applause coming in from the Indian dressing room. In the middle, Rahane also expressed more than he normally would. The century did mean a lot to both of them. Rahane (103*) put on an unbroken 211-run stand with star of the day Cheteshwar Pujara (128*)  to ensure another dominating day for the Indians, who ended at 344 for 3 at stumps.