India vs Australia: Wasim Jaffer's cryptic message for India captain Ajinkya Rahane ahead of Boxing Day Test

New Delhi, December 21: Their confidence badly bruised and battered following the horrific defeat in the opening Test in Adelaide, Team India would be raring to bounce back when they take on Australia in the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Saturday (December 26).

The Indian side would be without its regular captain Virat Kohli, who has taken paternity leave and will miss the remainder of the Border Gavaskar Trophy which his teammates would be looking to retain Down Under.

Kohli's deputy Ajinkya Rahane will lead the Indian side against the Aussies as his fellow teammates would be aiming to redeem their glory with a win in Melbourne and keep the series alive.

Rahane, however, has a daunting task at hand as what should be his Playing XI in the second Test. Team has to look for Kohli's replacement, as well as pacer Mohammad Shami's - who's been ruled out of the series after suffering an injury during the opening Test. The lacklustre show from the openers, Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal, has also added to the team management's headache.

Speculations are rife that Shaw - who had scores of 0 and 4 in the Pink-Ball Test - is likely to be replaced with either KL Rahul or Shubman Gill. Rahul is going through a purple patch in his career and including him in the middle-order would certainly strengthen the batting line-up which failed big time in Adelaide.

Many are of the view that benching Shaw would send a strong message to the youngster for not taking things for granted and that the talented Mumbai batsman needs to work on his technique.

Questions are also being raised on the performance of wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha - who like many others had a forgettable outing with the bat in both the innings. News has it that Rishabh Pant - who slammed a prolific century during the practice game - would replace Saha to perform wicketkeeping duties.

Amidst all this, former India opener Wasim Jaffer has come up with a cryptic message for Rahane. Jaffer - who is a stalwart of domestic cricket in India - has played alongside Rahane during his stint with the Mumbai Ranji Team.

Jaffer - who is quite active on social media these days - posted a message for Rahane to decode, which according to him could be the winning mantra for Team India in Melbourne Test.

Jaffer tweeted: "Dear @ajinkyarahane88 here's a (hidden) message for you. Good luck for Boxing Day!

People
In
Cricket
Know
Grief
In
Life
Lingers
Aplenty
Never
Dabble
Rise
And
Handcraft
Unique
Legacy

PS: you guys are open to have a go and decode the msg too."

Netizens didn't take long to decode Jaffer's cryptic tweet and revealed what it actually meant. Jaffer's secret message for Rahane is: "PLAY GILL AND RAHUL".