Pravin Amre: I hope Ricky Ponting watched that Ajinkya Rahane gem

Pravin Amre

Pravin Amre, who has been a mentor to Melbourne centurion Ajinkya Rahane, has said that the India stand-in captain's innings on Sunday should serve as a good message to Rahane's Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting.

"Ajinkya had a torrid time in the IPL while playing for Delhi Capitals with their mentor Ricky Ponting refusing to bring him in the playing XI for a good part of the tournament. I hope Ponting has seen this innings while commentating for Channel 7. The agony Ajinkya had to face during this period was huge," Amre said on Sunday.

Impressive ton

Amre, like several experts, was mighty impressed by Rahane's century - his second in three Tests at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. "The decision to promote himself to No. 4 was proved right. Since Virat Kohli is not around, he took on the responsibility and played a captain's knock."

He led from the front and we shouldn't forget that it is so difficult for any team to come back after being bundled out for 36. The way they have played in the last two days, it shows that the team have found some freshness.

Point made

"Ajinkya played freely, came out of the crease and sent a message - support me. The century shouldn't cause us to lose sight of his spot-on captaincy. When Steve Smith came in to bat, Ajinkya immediately brought on R Ashwin and got the breakthrough," remarked Amre, who scored a Test debut hundred against South Africa at Durban in 1992.