Speaking on the eve of his side's crucial third ODI against Australia in Indore, opener Ajinky Rahane has said that his side are taking one game at a time and are not taking their opposition for granted despite dominating the ongoing five-match series so far.
A clinical spell from Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah early on, and crippling strikes from Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal afterwards, ended the visiting side's hopes of levelling the series as India proved their dominance once again with a 50-run win over Australia in Kolkata to go 2-0 up.
Left-arm chinaman Kuldeep struck a hat-trick and became only the third Indian to achieve the feat in ODIs, following in the footsteps of Chetan Sharma and Kapil Dev.
Chahal, on the other hand, bagged two wickets while giving away just 34 runs.
Heaping praise over Chahal and Yadav's performance, Rahane said that the duo are quality spinners and that it is pretty good that the Australian players are finding it difficult to perform against them.
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"Both the guys are doing well and are quality spinners. What they have done is not only take wickets in middle overs in ODI cricket and also not giving away runs. This is an excellent thing that the duo has managed to do. I am sure they are looking to improve day by day and not taking anything for granted. It is a good sign that they are finding it difficult to pick them up," Rahane told the reporters.
Rahane, who is opening the batting for India in the ongoing series in Shikhar Dhawan's absence, joined forces with skipper Virat Kohli and went on to share a crucial 102-run stand for the second wicket to guide India to a respectable total of 252.
He struck seven boundaries in his 55-run knock off 64 balls.
When asked to analyse his performance, Rahane said that he tries to perform at the best of his abilities whenever he goes into the field.
"I do my best when I get my opportunity. I can't contemplate the future. My focus is to back my game and give my best. Every time you cannot think of a 100, crucial 45-50 runs is equally important. I am also focusing on not repeatíng the mistakes from the first ODI and how to counter-attack the Aussies from the first few overs," Rahane said.
With the final call on the team combination to be decided only after the pitch inspection on Sunday afternoon, India would be hoping to seal the series at the iconic Holkar Stadium.
"We are not taking things for granted. We are taking it one game at a time," Rahane said.
The 29-year-old, who met Sachin Tendulkar a few days back, also revealed that how the legendary cricketer had taught him to remain mentally strong.
"We had a net session of four days back. He told me to back my own game. He also asked me to prepare well and have a good mindset. He spoke about mental preparation and how to remain mentally strong. I got a lot of confidence from his talk," he concluded.
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