MELBOURNE: India's stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane hit a valiant hundred on Sunday in the Boxing Day Test against Australia and spin wizard Shane Warne has no hesitation in calling it one of the best knocks by an opposition captain on Australian soil.
Rahane's 12th century in the longest format of the game and Ravindra Jadeja's well-made fifty gave India firm control in the second Test. It was a Test master-class from Rahane as he played the first two sessions cautiously and then unleashed his true class after the tea on Sunday.
Warne hailed Rahane's innings and said it was one of the best he has seen from an opponent captain.
"One of the best oppositions captains knock on Aussie shores I reckon! Well played @ajinkyarahane88," Warne tweeted.
Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar had earlier said that Rahane's gritty hundred was one of the most important centuries in the history of Indian cricket.
India came into the Boxing Day Test on the back of a humiliating loss. The visitors were bundled out for 36 in the second innings of the pink-ball Test at Adelaide Oval. This score is India's lowest-ever score in Test cricket. Before this, India's lowest score was 42 in Test cricket against England in 1974.
Gavaskar said the valiant knock of Rahane sent a message to the Australian camp that the visitors will not just lie down and be walked all over.
"I believe that this hundred is going to be one of the most important hundreds in the history of Indian cricket," Gavaskar told Channel 7.
"Important because it's showing character, sending a message to the opposition that after being dismissed for 36 in the previous game, to come back in this manner, this Indian team is not going to just lie down and be walked all over," he added.
Rahane was sent back to the pavilion on the third morning after he was run-out while attempting a risky single. His wicket triggered a collapse and the visitors slipped from 294/6 to 326 all out in the first session itself.
At stumps, Australia's score read 133/6 -- lead by 2 runs -- as India kept a tight rein on the hosts' batsmen and did not allow them to settle.