Rahane se raha naa jayee ….

Stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane carved out a classy hundred, his 12th in Test cricket, to light up what was a fairly chilly day at the MCG on Sunday. Without sounding cliched, it was a knock which came at the right time as “Jinx” soaked in the pressure like a sponge.

On a day when the Australian catching standards plummeted to abysmal depths, Rahane showed that he is capable of leading Team India time and again, even though he has never been groomed as skipper.

As this website had written earlier, too, Rahane should have been made captain for the entire Test series what with Virat Kohli returning home on paternity leave after the first Test disaster.

It was not the media alone which ran short of adjectives describing the monumental effort from the 32-year-old bearded man. Unsung and uncelebrated, Rahane steadied the ship after the Aussies had done early damage on Sunday morning.

His unbeaten knock of 104 was a monument built on patience, with the foundation as strong as old age structures. He did not play anything reckless and as he faced 200 balls and slammed a dozen boundaries. It oozed class and composure. From Virat Kohli to Yuvraj Singh, each one took to social media to shower lavish praise on the selfless batsman and skipper.

To be sure, this is not the first time Rahane has batted with such authority and purpose. At the G, as Melbourne’s famous cricket stadium is known, Rahane had good partnerships with Ravindra Jadejaand  Rishabh Pant and a few more batsmen as well.

By ensuring that India finished Day 2 at 277 for 5, a lead of 82 runs, Rahane has ensured India have gained a psychological advantage. There is still a lot of cricket to be played. Rahane should continue in the same vein and India should hope on Monday morning they can build a bigger lead, with five wickets in hand.

Rahane, who has played  66 Tests, has never got the same praise as his predecessors. He has never minded it, though. As a middle class Mumbaikar who has earned his Test cap in 2013, he could have played in more ODIs as well. However, it is in the romantic format of Test cricket, he has time and again blossomed.

Pressure of captaincy is not new to him. He was inspirational in his unconventional field setting on Saturday. On Sunday, he ensured millions of his fans could smile, once again, after the whacking in the first Test where India were shot out for 36 in the second innings!