Ajinkya Rahane: Completely clear instructions

CSK’s Ajinkya Rahane en route his 67 against MI at Wankhede on Saturday. Pics/Ashish Raje

Three Mumbai boys - top-order batter Ajinkya Rahane (27-ball 61, 7x4, 3x6), pacer Tushar Deshpande (2-31) and all-rounder Shivam Dube (28) played key roles in Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) seven-wicket win over Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday. Although Deshpande and Dube were certain of their places in the playing XI, Rahane revealed that he came to know of his inclusion just before the toss as all-rounder Moeen Ali was unwell.

Perfect preparation

"I prepared myself really well mentally and physically. I always visualise before the game, so that helped me a lot. [I was] playing in Mumbai [IPL] after a long time. I know this wicket really well and we got an idea of how it was playing and how the ball was behaving when we were bowling," Rahane said during the post-match press conference.

He revealed that CSK captain MS Dhoni urged him to play with intent. "Mahi bhai's instructions were completely clear - just play with intent, back yourself and don't change anything. It's all about your mindset and what you want to do for your team. "When I was coming into bat, I was telling myself, watch the ball as high as possible, just react and play on the merit of the ball," Rahane said.

Also read: IPL 2023: Ajinkya Rahane hails Tushar Deshpande's IPL rise

The India player, who has represented India in 82 Tests, 90 ODIs and 20 T20Is is still optimistic of making a comeback to the national team. "Anything can happen… as I always say. I will never give up. For me, it's all about playing with enjoyment and passion. Whichever format I play, it's all about giving my best every time rather than thinking ‘what if?' or about the future which is not in my hands. "It's all about giving my best every time and trying to be as positive as possible and whenever I get an opportunity, I should be ready for that," Rahane remarked.

‘Rohit dismissal was key'

Talking of Rohit's dismissal in particular, Rahane said: "That [Rohit's dismissal] was a great ball. Taking Rohit's wicket is massive. You know how big Rohit's wicket is, especially in Mumbai. He is a dangerous player."

Senior guys need to step up, starting with me: MI skipper Rohit

After a crushing seven-wicket loss to Chennai Super Kings in the IPL at Wankhede on Saturday, Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma said that the senior guys in the team starting with himself need to step up.

"The senior guys need to step up starting with me. We know the nature of IPL, when the tournament starts we need to get some momentum and when you don't it is tough. Just two games and all is not lost still. If you win, you can win a few on the trot and when you lose it is hard to come out of that momentum. ," said Rohit at the post-match presentation.

MI head coach Mark Boucher felt that their batting unit had no answers to CSK's impressive bowing effort. "Look at our bowlers and their batters. We have not had enough runs on the board. Especially now when we have impact players, we had seven batters today. For us to make 157 was not good enough on that wicket. We probably should have got 180-190 and we really could have judged our bowling," Boucher said at the post-match presentation.