Foto-Album » Muirfield and some fickle weather stopped him. But he i

In the 137 minutes Ajinkya Rahane spent at the crease in Indias second innings in St Lucia, the most memorable moment possibly came when he was at the non-strikers end. Ravindra Jadeja was on strike, and he dabbed Jason Holder towards gully. The ball went straight to the fielder, a fielder in a nominally catching position, and Rahane, already halfway down the pitch, screamed at Jadeja to start running. By the time the fielder worked out what was happening, Rahane had reached the danger end and Jadeja was safely on his way in the other direction. It was a moment straight out of street cricket, all hustle and opportunism. On the fifth morning in St Lucia, India had to play street cricket in their charge towards a declaration, with West Indies spreading their field and a slow outfield keeping boundaries down but presenting opportunities for the stolen second or third run. With Rahane in the middle, India ran 11 twos and two threes in nine helter-skelter overs, adding 60 to their overnight total.When India declared, Rahane was batting on 78. He had scored his runs at a strike rate of 67.24 despite hitting only two fours and no sixes. Not for the first time in his career, he had simply reached for his gearshift and found the appropriate gear.In the first innings of the same Test, he had scored 35 off 133 balls, defending resolutely through a difficult session-and-a-half when India lost a heap of top-order wickets. He had seemed set for a big score when he was out to a rare error of judgment, seeking to sweep an offspinner bowling stump-to-stump.As every batsman tries to do, Rahane was simply playing the way the respective situations demanded. But with most batsmen, its easy to tell when they are playing out of character. Its not so straightforward with Rahane. He looked as much at home blunting West Indies bowlers in the first innings as he did milking them in the second. It was hard to say which innings was closer to his natural game. It has been hard to pinpoint his natural game right through his career.Its hardly a rigorous use of statistics, but the strike rates at which Rahane has scored his seven Test hundreds point to his versatility: he has made two hundreds at strike rates in the 40s, two in the 50s, and one each in the 60s, 70s and 80s. Add his 103-ball 98 in Fatullah, and he has a near-hundred with a strike rate of 95 as well.Such versatility brings to mind Michael Hussey, who played a similar role for Australia in Test cricket. This is partly because, playing in an Indian team that has won most of its recent Tests, Rahane has had the opportunity to play both kinds of Hussey-style innings. He has had opportunities to drag his team out of tricky spots - as he did against South Africa in the first innings in Delhi, turning 139 for 6 into a total of 334 - as well as to set up declarations. The last six times India have declared in Test cricket, Rahane has been at the crease three times, and on one other occasion was dismissed 2.1 overs before Virat Kohli called his batsmen in.Quietly, through this period, Rahane has become the highest-averaging batsman in Indias Test squad. After the first three Tests of the series against South Africa, his average had slipped below 40. Then came the twin hundreds in Delhi, and now, a series of understated accomplishment in the West Indies. By the end of the St Lucia Test, he was on the cusp of two milestones in his Test career: he had scored 1862 runs, and his average stood at exactly 49.00.By a quirk of mathematics, 50 and 2000 could happen at the same time. It could happen in the fourth Test in Port-of-Spain, if he scores the remaining 138 runs there. If he is only out once, he will only need 88 to lift his average to 50, and if he isnt dismissed at all, 38 will do.Rahane doesnt need his average to affirm the quality he has proved across all conditions, and seeing it tick past 50 probably isnt his most urgent priority at this stage of his career. But if and when it happens, Indian cricket fans will cherish the moment.For most of the 2000s, Indias Test line-up contained three batsmen with 50-plus averages. By the time his career ended, Virender Sehwags had slipped to 49.43. And so, the 50-plus average club, with the qualification of 2000 runs, contains only three Indian batsmen. You know their names, and in case you dont, their initials will do: SMG, SRT, RSD. If and when he gets there, AMR will be in special company. Stitched NBA Jerseys . -- Former San Diego Chargers safety Paul Oliver was found dead at his Atlanta-area home Tuesday night, and a medical examiner said Wednesday that the ex-player committed suicide. Wholesale NBA Jerseys .H. -- Matt Kenseth made it 2 for 2 in the Chase, holding off teammate Kyle Busch to win Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. https://www.nbachinajerseys.us/ . "Jeff is a hard worker who was an important special-teams contributor for us last season," said Stamps GM John Hufnagel. Cheap NBA Jerseys . Vancouver Whitecaps and Toronto FC failed to make the postseason while Montreal Impact fell at the first hurdle losing heavily to Houston Dynamo in the Eastern Conference Knockout Round. Fake NBA Jerseys . Third-seeded Murray had the easiest path to victory on New Years Eve, barely breaking a sweat during his 6-0, 6-0 win over 2,129th-ranked Qatari wildcard recipient Mousa Shanan Zayed.One of the best players who never won a major would love a crack at one now. Colin Montgomerie used to say it was harder than ever to win a major because each year it seemed that Tiger Woods won two of them, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson or Vijay Singh won another and that left only one for everyone else. Those days, at least for the moment, are gone. Over the last five years, 18 players have won the last 20 majors, none of them named Woods. And the winner? It could be anybody. Darren Clarke won in his 54th major. Keegan Bradley won in his first. Rory McIlroy won when he was 22. Els won when he was 42. The next chance is the 142nd British Open, which returns next week to Muirfield for the 16th time dating to 1892. Muirfield is reputed to be the fairest of the links courses on the rotation, mainly because there are no tricks and very few blind shots. The course consists of two loops running in opposite directions so that golfers will face the wind in every direction by the end of the day. Muirfield is perhaps more predictable than the others. Not so predictable is finding a player at the top of his game. The search ordinarily would start with Woods, and for good reason. The worlds No. 1 player already has won four times this year, and during a two-month span in the spring, he won three out of four tournaments, the exception a tie for fourth in the Masters. Now, more mystery envelops Woods. He offered limited details at the U.S. Open about an injury in his left elbow that had been bothering him for a month. Woods has not played since he tied for 32nd at the U.S. Open, and he cant guarantee hell be at full strength when he arrives at Muirfield. "I would like to be 100 per cent, but I dont know," he said this month. "It depends on how the body heals. Well see how it goes." McIlroy is one of two players to win multiple majors in the last five years -- Padraig Harrington, with back-to-back major wins in 2008 is the other -- only Boy Wonder has become an afterthought this year. After building a big lead atop the world ranking at the close of 2012, he made a wholesale equipment change at the start of the year and has had only one reasonable chance to win, at the Texas Open. After missing the cut at the Irish Open, he said he felt "lost." Graeme McDowell has three wins, second only to Woods this year, though even he isnt sure what to expect. In his last eight tournaments, McDowell has won three times and missed the cut the other five times. At this rate, theres simply no telling what kind of game hell bring to links along the Firth of Forth. "When its been good, its been really good," McDowell said. Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., is the only Canadian in the British Opens field. If there is a trend in this years majors, it is the emergence of quality players whose careers were elevated by winning a Grand Slam event. Most players would have been devastated to lose a four-shot lead with four holes to play as Adam Scott did last year in the British Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. Scott later said he would have been crushed had he been watching a performance like that from home. Poised as ever, he realized he played the best golf for 68 holes and took that to understand he could do it again.dddddddddddd And thats what he did, winning the Masters in a playoff to end more than a half-century of Australian misery at Augusta National. Scott hasnt been Down Under to celebrate since he slipped on that green jacket. In his mind, the year was still young. There was much left to achieve, more majors to win. And there is a feeling of redemption he brings to the Open, even though he seemingly atoned for that collapse by winning his first major. "Im really looking forward to going back and trying to get myself in a similar kind of situation, a chance to win the Open," Scott said. "The hardest thing is going to be curbing the expectations right from the start. But its exciting. Every tournament, I feel, is an opportunity for me now ... to just build on this." Not long after winning the Masters, he sent a text to Justin Rose that "this was our time." Rose lived up to his end of the prediction by winning the U.S. Open with three clutch shots at the end for a two-shot win. They have been friends and colleagues throughout their careers, born two weeks apart, both having endured their share of struggles. "It hit me really at the U.S. Open that if youre not willing to experience the heartache and heartbreak of losing a major, then you cant really truly play your best stuff and be free enough in the moment to get it done," Rose said. "If youre kind of apprehensive to what it might feel like to lose, I think for me thats just what struck me. I was good with the fact that you just have to put yourself in that moment time and time again, and be willing to just keep knocking down the door. "Thats kind of what I learned as well from Adam." Woods cant relate to any of this, of course. He won his first major as a pro with a record performance at the Masters. He had the career Grand Slam when he was 24. He was on his way to a calendar Grand Slam in 2002 when Muirfield and some fickle weather stopped him. But he is seeing more players emerge to challenge him -- McIlroy the last two years, Scott and Rose this year. During the 12 years that it took Woods to win 14 majors, only three players who won majors were younger than Woods -- Ben Curtis in the 2003 British Open, Geoff Ogilvy in the 2006 U.S. Open and Trevor Immelman in the 2008 Masters. Since his last major in the 2008 U.S. Open, there have been 12 players younger than Woods who won majors, including six of the last seven. This is as deep and well-rounded as golf has been in years. And Woods isnt getting any younger. "If you look at most golfers, their prime years are usually in their 30s," Woods said. "It takes a while to learn how to win at this level and learn how to do it consistently. I think that youve got to learn what you can and cant do. Theres so much to learn out there, and I think that generally you see some of the guys dont mature into their games until their 30s." That doesnt make this major any easier to predict. Even so, Muirfield has a way of bringing out the best. Dating to World War II, the seven players who won a British Open at Muirfield are all in the World Golf Hall of Fame. ' ' '