WTC Final | Twitter reacts as dejected Ajinkya Rahane regretfully pats his helmet after throwing his wicket away
Players are humans after all, and they do make mistakes on the field. However, when the situation demands more from them, they want to give their best shot, which Ajinkya Rahane failed to deliver in the WTC final after playing superbly throughout the innings until one false shot cost his wicket.
On his Test comeback, Ajinkya Rahane batted extremely well against Australia in the World Test Championship final at The Oval. By hitting 89 in the first innings, the 35-year-old top-scored for India in their 296-run total, and then, kept India in the game by showing resilience in the second innings after coming to chase an improbable 444-run target. Thanks to him and Virat Kohli, India were still in the game on Day 5 until the latter lost his wicket in the early half of the first session, and helped Australia to regain total control.
Considering Rahane was still in the middle after Kohli’s departure, India were still hoping to pull off a miracle on the final day of the contest. However, 59 more deliveries after Kohli’s wicket, the Australians put the final nail in the coffin by dismissing Jinx for 46. Although Rahane was to blame because of the manner of his dismissal, and he knew straightaway just after playing the shot on the wicket delivery.
To force him to play one bad shot, Mitchell Starc was bowling around the wicket against Rahane for a while. The ace Australian pacer finally got what he wanted when Rahane threw his bat to drive a widish delivery only to nick behind to Alex Carey. With all disappointment, Rahane constantly patted his helmet realizing there was no need to play that shot against the delivery which was not too full delivery for a drive. He even shook his head continuously while slowly dragging himself from the field.
Big fish for Starc!
Ricky Ponting said, "Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and now Ajinkya Rahane won't be happy with their shots. They played really well, but got out in the wrong way". pic.twitter.com/PxRzCYbcJg
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) June 11, 2023
Poor shot selections from big players!
Rohit - gifted his wicket
— Priyam (@iamVkohli__18) June 11, 2023
Pujara - gifted his wicket
Kohli - gifted his wicket
Rahane - gifted is wicket
Gill - controversial decision
Then how tf Australia deserved to win this 🫠
Dukh Dardh Peeda!😭😭
Rahane ko support krne ke liye Hotstar Open Kiya or Wicket Down..😭😭😭😭😭
— Prof cheems ॐ (@Prof_Cheems) June 11, 2023
Tata bye bye!
Indian fans after rahane's wicket :-#ICCWorldTestChampionship #ICCWTC2023 #ICC pic.twitter.com/hHffVwRtOU
— Pratik (@pratik751521) June 11, 2023
That's what they were looking for!
Starc takes revenge Rahane gifted his wicket
— mohsinali (@mohsinaliisb) June 11, 2023
Rahane was one last hope!
Starc gets big wicket Rahane 🔥
— Hammered Truth🇦🇺 (@hammered_truth7) June 11, 2023
Sad life!
Rahane wicket 🤲🏻😭💫
— Aditi ||AUSTRALIA FTW 🤲🏻✨️ (@aditichandel90) June 11, 2023
He played wrong shot!
The way Rahane threw his wicket showed us that they were mentally out of the game with Kohli's wicket 👍🏻
— 𝑺𝑩𝑨 (@Kohliddicted) June 11, 2023
He's good at it!
why does it take a lot from aussies to get rahane's wicket 🙄
— 𝙣𝙤𝙤𝙧 (@limesosteks) June 11, 2023
Poor shot!
Oops! How did that happen? Starc just got the big wicket. Rahane, what was that shot? #WTCFinals #WTCFinal2023 #INDvsAUS
— ghibli (@uphriaa) June 11, 2023