Ajinkya Rahane Lauds Kuldeep Yadav And Kartik Tyagi In A Dressing Room Speech, Watch Video

India’s stand-in captain for the three test matches in Australia after the departure of Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane has a special message during the dressing room speech. He congratulated the entire team and also mentioned two special players. Read to know more.

Ajinkya Rahane giving a post-match speech in the dressing room. (Courtesy: BCCI Twitter)

India fielded a record 20 different players during the four Test matches against Australia. As many as five players did their Test debuts at perhaps, the biggest stage in Indian Test cricket, these five players were- Shubhman Gill, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, T Natarajan and Washington Sundar. None of the cricket experts thought that India would go on to win the series after a batting debacle in the first Test in Adelaide. Many ex-cricketers in fact predicted a 4-0 whitewash in favour of Australia after the first Test.

Virat Kohli had to leave the team for a paternity leave after the first Test. Rahane was named the stand-in captain for the remaining three Test matches. After winning the series 2-1, captain Rahane had a special message for the team in the dressing room after the match.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As we draw curtains on our historic triumph and start our preparations for the home series, here’s Captain <a href="https://twitter.com/ajinkyarahane88?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>@ajinkyarahane88</a>‘s address to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TeamIndia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>#TeamIndia</a> from the Gabba dressing room. <br><br>Full 🎥<a href="https://t.co/Sh2tkR5c7j" rel='nofollow'>https://t.co/Sh2tkR5c7j</a> <a href="https://t.co/l7wr6UXSxq" rel='nofollow'>pic.twitter.com/l7wr6UXSxq</a></p>&mdash; BCCI (@BCCI) <a href="https://twitter.com/BCCI/status/1352938766621523971?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>January 23, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

"This is a massive moment for all of us. What happened in Adelaide, how we came back from Melbourne onwards was really good to see. Everyone did their effort, everyone contributed, and it was not about one or two individuals. I just want to mention Kuldeep Yadav and Kartik Tyagi,” Rahane was seen telling this in a video shared by BCCI’s official Twitter handle. Kuldeep and Kartik did not play a single game during the entire series. But the captain did not seem to forget two of his players who warmed the bench despite 20 other players getting a chance. It was wonderful to see Rahane boosting the confidence of both the players.

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“Kuldeep, I know it was tough for you, you did not play a game here but your attitude was really good. Your time will come, just keep working hard. Kartik you were fantastic," Rahane added. This indicated that Kuldeep might get a chance against England due to injuries to Ashwin and Jadeja.

Kuldeep Yadav had a good series when India travelled to Asutralia in 2018-19. He was picked as a third spinner after Ashwin and Jadeja but did not get a chance despite injuries to both of them. Instead, all-rounder Washington Sundar was picked to play the last Test match. Kartik Tyagi, on the other hand was just there as a net bowler.

The fact that the first two tests against England are going to be played in Chennai, there is a high chance that Kuldeep Yadav might get a chance in the team due to the nature of the wicket in Chidambaram Stadium, which favors the spinners.