Ajinkya Rahane has stirred a hornet’s nest with his comment that “someone else took the credit” for decisions he made to resurrect the team after the nightmarish 36 all out in Adelaide during India’s epic tour in 2020-21.

Rahane was the stand-in captain as Virat Kohli missed the remaining three Tests following the birth of his daughter. India staged a remarkable turnaround to win the series 2-1 under Rahane’s leadership.

Rahane’s comments also lend credence to what has been doing the rounds for a while — all wasn’t well in the dressing room. The former Test vice-captain has, in fact, hit out at the team management when Ravi Shastri was the head coach and Kohli the captain.

The Telegraph had reported in September last that two senior cricketers had complained to Board secretary Jay Shah after Kohli had spoken about “lack of intent” among the batsmen following the loss to New Zealand in the World Test Championship final in Southampton.

Rahane had led the fightback with a superb century in Melbourne to win the second Test by eight wickets. “I know what I’ve done there. I don’t need to tell anyone. That’s not my nature to go and take credit. Yes, there were some things that I took the decisions on the field or in the dressing room but someone else took the credit for it,” Rahane said in a show titled Backstage With Boria. “(What was) important for me was that we won the series. That was a historical series and for me, that was really special.”

Rahane earned plaudits from the cricket fraternity for the manner in which he led the heavily depleted team in one of the most difficult situations, not just at the MCG but through the remainder of the four-match series.

India missed three front-line players at the MCG, and continued to lose key players through the series to injuries but still emerged triumphant at the end of it all.

“After that, the reactions from people or those who took credit or what was said on the media, ‘I did this’ or ‘This was my decision’, or ‘This was my call’, it was for them to talk about,” Rahane said.

“From my end, I knew what decisions I took on the field and what decisions I took on my instincts. Yes, we talked with the management too but I used to laugh about it, that is what I did on the field, I never talk much about myself or praise myself. But what I did there, I knew.”

Rahane’s form has since suffered a prolonged slump after leading India to that historic series win in Australia, and it continued on the tour of South Africa. His place in the squad is uncertain for the Test series against Sri Lanka and he will have to prove himself in the Ranji Trophy.