England Test series a test of mind & character: Rahane
London, July 30 : India's vice captain Ajinkya Rahane on Monday said the upcoming Test match rubber against England will be a test of mind and character, adding that making quick adjustments according to the demands will be key.
Ahead of the opening Test starting in Birmingham on Wednesday, he also said that as per the skill-set, both teams are at par.
"It is a test of mind and character. Communication in these conditions crucial. We will have to respect the conditions," Rahane told reporters.
"Our mindset is to how quickly you adjustment rather than thinking about the skill-set. Skill-wise both teams are at par. It is all about how quickly you handle the situations," he added.
Rahane said the team is not thinking about the results as it can only put the players under-pressure. He also mentioned that the patience is the key to success while playing England.
"We were here in 2014 and we know what it takes to play good cricket here in England. Thinking about results put pressure on yourself," Rahane said.
"Patience is key because it depends on the weather. If it is sunny, good to bat. If it is gets cloudy, good for bowlers. As a batting unit, it is important to challenge yourself, backing your game. If you are set, you need to hold back and need to make it count," he added.
Asked about the conditions in England and the pace bowlers Rahane said: "We have experienced pace bowlers like Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav. They played here in 2014 as well. Our bowling attack took 20 wickets in each Tests in South Africa. So, we have an attack which actually can destruct the opponents. The main challenge is to bowl in right areas for the long period of time," Rahane said.
India only played one warm-up game, and that too was cut short by a day. Commenting about the preparations, the right-hand batsman said: "We have had decent practice sessions and enough net sessions. We are taking one Test at a time and really looking forward to the series."
Praising chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, Rahane said: "Kuldeep can be the X-factor for us, especially the way he bowled in T20Is and ODIs. At the moment I am not sure about the team combination and we will have to see what the wicket will be like."
However, Rahane said that his selection in the team is not given. "We don't have to forget (Ravichandran) Ashwin and (Ravindra) Jadeja -- they have been doing well for us. Ashwin has been bowling well and contributes with the bat as well," he reasoned.
Rahane was also confident that top-order bstsmen Cheteshwar Pujara and Shikhar Dhawan -- who have looked off-colour so far -- will return to form as soon as possible.
"We are not worried about them. They are quality batsmen and we all back them. It just takes one innings (to hit form)," he said.
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Not surprised EC gave itself clean chit: Cong slams poll panel on Haryana complaints
Warns ECI of legal action over 'condescending' tone
New Delhi, Nov 1: The Congress on Friday hit out at the Election Commission after it rejected allegations of "irregularities" in Haryana assembly polls, saying if the poll panel's goal is to "strip itself of the last vestiges of neutrality", then it is doing a "remarkable job" at creating that impression.
The opposition party claimed that the EC's reply was written in a tone that is condescending and warned that if the poll panel persists with such language then it would have no choice but to seek legal recourse for getting such remarks expunged.
The Congress's response came days after the EC rejected allegations levelled by it over "irregularities" in assembly polls, saying the party was raising "the smoke of a generic doubt" about the credibility of an entire electoral outcome as done in the past.
The Congress said it is not surprised that the ECI has examined its complaints and "given itself a clean chit". The answer given to the question of the machines' fluctuating batteries seeks to confuse rather than clarify, it said.
"At any rate, the ECI reply is nothing more than a standard and generic set of bullets on how the machines function rather than a specific clarification on specific complaints. In short, while our complaints were specific the ECI response is generic and focused on diminishing the complaints and the petitioners," the Congress said.
In its letter to the EC signed by nine senior Congress leaders, including general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh, the party said, "We have carefully studied your response to our complaints. Not surprisingly, the ECI has given a clean chit to itself. We would normally have let it be at that. However, the tone and tenor of the ECI's response, the language used, and the allegations made against the INC compel us to submit the counter-response."
The Congress letter said that if the Commission grants a recognised national party a hearing or examines issues raised by them in good faith it is not an 'exception' or 'indulgence' but it is the performance of a duty required to be done.
"If the Commission is refusing to grant us a hearing or refusing to engage on certain complaints (which it has done in the past) then the law allows recourse to the higher courts' extraordinary jurisdiction to compel the ECI to discharge this function (as happened in 2019)," the letter said.
The Congress leaders, who had petitioned the EC alleging irregularities in the polls, said every reply from the EC now "seems to be laced with ad-hominem attacks" on either individual leaders or the party itself.
"The ECI's reply are written in a tone that is condescending. If the current ECI's goal is to strip itself of the last vestiges of neutrality, then it is doing a remarkable job at creating that impression," the party said in its letter to the EC.
"Judges who write decisions do not attack or demonise the party raising the issues. However, if the ECI persists then we shall have no choice but to seek legal recourse to expunge such remarks," said the letter signed by Ramesh, K C Venugopal, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupinder Hooda, Ajay Maken, Abhishek Singhvi, Uday Bhan, Partap Bajwa and Pawan Khera.
They also said that the "pattern" sought to be identified by the ECI in its reply is "disingenuous" as sometimes acting on complaints immediately is the key.
"If they are not redressed on the ground then they become redundant. And then the only remedy available is an Election Petition which is a lengthy process taking years to resolve. Thus, we approach the ECI with whatever information we have, and the ECI with the vast resources at its command, examines and reviews this information to see if the same is correct. Many times, the ECI has found our information to be correct. Other times, not so. But we do not name and shame the ECI for those moments after the Election is over," they said.
The Congress said if they were "bad faith actors", then they would never engage with the ECI to begin with. "We would focus on naming and shaming the Commission with examples from the ECI's own recent history which do not shroud it with glory," it said, adding that they would have never engaged in that case.
The Congress said it has sent over a hundred complaints against the prime minister and home minister, but "the ECI has taken action in precisely zero complaints, while calling our party president and former party president to account for their actions/speeches".
"We would point out how the ECI never published a dissent note, actively suppressing it instead, by a former Commissioner in this regard. We would point out that the ECI has almost always fought any move for transparency and increase in VVPAT verification numbers, with the same having to be ordered by the Supreme Court. We challenge the ECI to fact check the above since it finds the INC's misgivings to be based on phantoms," the Congress said.
In a strongly-worded letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, the poll panel had said such "frivolous and unfounded" doubts have the potential of creating "turbulence" when crucial steps like polling and counting are in live play, a time when both public and political parties' anxiousness is peaking.
The BJP retained power in Haryana winning 48 of the 90 seats in the October 5 assembly polls.
