"Team India responded to the challenge of climbing uphill" - Dilip Doshi on India's win in Melbourne
"Cometh the hour, cometh the man" were the words of former Indian left-arm spinner Dilip Doshi, days after India lost the opening match against Australia in Adelaide.
Doshi was alluding to stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane's role in the remainder of the Test series. Without an iota of doubt, the chips were down, and Doshi did say that regular captain Virat Kohli was "leaving a sinking ship". However, he had hopes of India turning it around.
After the terrific win in Melbourne, Doshi was indeed ecstatic with the Indian team's performance.
"Here it became “men” as many members of the team responded bravely to the challenge of climbing uphill. This is now the time to hold this moment through the series and not drop guard," a proud Doshi told Sportskeeda on Tuesday.
India went about their business in clinical fashion, as if the previous Test was a no result. A fine century from Ajinkya Rahane was complemented by a top effort from the bowlers to bring about an important win in Indian cricket history.
"The Indian team today came of age in the true sense when fighting the odds after the inexplicable debacle in the last Test and losing their captain and the best batsman for the rest of the series in Australia," he said.
While Ajinkya Rahane's coach and former Indian Test cricketer Pravin Amre rated the Melbourne win in the list of top five Test wins for India in the history of the game, Doshi spoke about how a team is worth more than an individual.
"Cricket is a great leveller like life, as it underlines once again that no one, however, valuable, is indispensable. We are simply proud of our team and their heroic efforts," Doshi, who is always known to call space a spade, said.
Dilip Doshi commends Indian skipper Ajinkya Rahane's captaincy
Doshi further heaped praise on Ajinkya Rahane's captaincy and added a special mention for the way the Indian captain scored a century in the first innings to help the visitors to a fighting total.
"Doesn't still water run deep? Look at Rahane and the kind of stuff he did for his team, right from making suitable bowling changes, motivating the team to field well to batting for his life in Melbourne, it was a dream come true for him. In reality, he even can't believe the kind of cricket India played under him," Doshi said.
Despite India's commanding win in Melbourne, Doshi believes that Ajinkya Rahane has his task cut out in the next few games. However, the former Indian spinner highlighted the biggest feature of the Indian skipper's captaincy, which he feels played a big hand in India's win.
"A tough proposition ahead indeed, but Ajinkya Rahane showed that beneath his calm exterior he has nerves and resolve of steel and the ability to bring the team together and bring the best out to deliver the magical victory," Doshi.