Former skipper Sunil Gavaskar today advised Indian batsmen to show patience and lauded Ajinkya Rahane for his unbeaten 89-run innings which helped India end the opening day at 231-7 against South Africa in the final cricket Test here.
"If you see the temperament that Rahane showed despite not getting runs in last few appearances in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka...I think when you get into a situation and you show believe in yourself and show the patience, then it can happen," Gavaskar said.
"My honest advice to everybody is don't get too fussed about the fact that you are not making runs on pitches where the ball has done something. I think you need to show patience like Rahane showed. You stay at the wicket, runs will come.
"These are not impossible wickets, they are difficult wickets to bat on, where the ball doesn't come on to the bat as quickly as you want as strokeplayers. I think, because of so many limited over cricket, players get eager and get out. So my advice is have patience," Gavaskar told NDTV.
Heaping praise on Rahane, Gavaskar said: "Rahane was out of form and short of confidence and therefore he was looking to play every delivery earlier on. Today, he played himself in during his partnership with Virat Kohli.
"They ran a lot of singles, so foot movement got better and he was not looking to play anything outside his range. At Mohali and Nagpur, he tried to play outside his range. It is his first half century and hopefully he will go into three figures," he added.
Talking about Kohli's bizarre way of getting out, Gavaskar went down memory lane and said he himself had got out in a similar manner during 1974 Test against West Indies.
"I myself got out in a similar manner in a 1974 Test against West Indies where I flicked Andy Roberts and it got bounced off Viv Richards, who recovered and took a diving catch almost at the foot of the non-striker. But see Virat had luck with the toss, sometimes luck deserts us when we have the bat. Look he is not out of form, it is important. He is looking good," said Gavaskar.
Asked about Rohit Sharma, who paid the price for playing an atrocious shot and was caught at long-on, Gavaskar said: "I don't know why he played that shot just after he was dropped. India's situation was precarious, India needed partnership. It was lack of patience.
"You see there are few deliveries where bowlers had worked out the batsman like R Ashwin did to AB de Villiers, but otherwise, it is impatience which cost them their wicket.
