Let Aussies play mind games, we will focus on our team: Ajinkya Rahane

India’s stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane on Friday said he would rather focus on his team than worrying about Australia’s “mind games” ahead of the ‘Boxing Day’ Test starting at Melbourne on Saturday.

Australia coach Justin Langer had on Thursday said he would be “happy” if the Indian team is under a bit of stress after the humiliating defeat in the first Test and would like to put pressure on Rahane, who is taking charge in absence of regular skipper Virat Kohli.

Let Aussies play mind games

“Australians are very good at playing mind games and I will let them do that. We are focusing on ourselves, what we want to do as a unit and we are going to back our every individuals,” Rahane said on the eve of the match.

Not as expressive or eloquent as Kohli, Rahane repeated his answers in a loop which was all about “playing to your strengths and backing each other”.

“It is a proud moment for me leading India, obviously it is a great opportunity, responsibility as well but I don’t want to take any pressure,” said the dependable middle-order batsman.

“I think what I want to do is back my team. So focus is not on me, it is all about team and how we want to do well as a team. We are focusing on that.”

ALSO READ: BCCI approves 10-team IPL from 2022 edition

Even skipper Kohli, before leaving for India for the birth of his child, urged Rahane to be himself and play fearless cricket.

Stay tuned with the newstrack to get fastest updates. Click @englishnewstrack to follow us on Facebook and @newstrackmedia to follow on Twitter.