Bowlers need to be patient to bowl out Windies: Rahane

“I was not thinking about my hundred,” Rahane said. “When Mishra and Shami got out, I told Umesh to play normal cricket. Just give your 100% whether defending or playing a shot. When I was 84-85, I wanted to play normal cricket, but the offie brought his long-off in and I wanted to clear the fielder. When I was on 95, I told Umesh to just play normal cricket.”

Rahane said India would have to be patient to bowl West Indies out in the second innings

“There is something for the fast bowlers, but it’s important for us to bowl a decent line and length (on the fourth day),” he said. “We have to bowl patiently. In the first Test match, we bowled in good areas and we bowled consistently. If we do that, we will be in a good position.”

The Indian middle-order batsman said the team was not thinking about the weather when it started batting in the morning. “We were not thinking about the weather,” Rahane said. “Initially, in the morning, we wanted to play normal cricket. Unfortunately, Wriddhiman [Saha] got out just before lunch. That partnership was really important for us. The plan was to bat once and bat long, and I think we did that. I thought Holder bowled a very good spell before lunch. He bowled pretty well. After lunch, the plan was to play positive and try and get a 300-plus lead. Unfortunately, the rain came in, that’s not something we can control.” 

“On the islands, it rains, but clears quickly also,” he said. “You can’t be thinking about the weather and playing. The important thing was how much of a lead we could get and how quickly we can get it. We wanted to play normal cricket till lunch, and then, if we played positively, our lead would have grown. Anyway, there is plenty of time left in the Test match.”