When Ajinkya Rahane became the only Indian to survive coach Anil Kumble's one-hour challenge — VIDEOS INSIDE

New Delhi: This news many come as a surprise to the legions of Indian fans, who have witnessed extraordinary feats of fitness from skipper Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Being a professional team, Team India undergoes rigourous regimes from time to time. And with strict disciplinarian Anil Kumble at the helm of things, one can only assume the demands the coaching staff asks from the cricketers.

The team has successfully adopted a fitness culture in its ranks, but at times, even the fittest fail to pass Kumble's demands. During one of such occasions, India's premier batsman Kohli failed a fitness test, with Rahane alone emerging as the lone survivor.

It happened ahead of India's tour of West Indies last year. On July 3, at a preparatory camp in Bengaluru, the team was taken to Alur, which is some 40 km away from the metropolitan city.

There, the legendary spinner challenged everyone to bat for one hour without getting dismissed. Set in a Test environment, Kohli & co were asked to don whites, instead of usual practice kits.

With the field set and scoreboard installed, one after the other, most of the batsmen failed the unique test.

It's reported that Kohli himself got out twice, with Ravindra Jadeja's spin proving to be too much for the skipper. Opener Shikar Dhawan too failed, getting caught behind twice. And his opening partner Murali Vijay found his nemesis in Ishant Sharma, beaten, and accounted for.

Both KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma, who was fighting for a place in the team them, also failed.

 

Morning session done

A video posted by Ajinkya Rahane (@ajinkyarahane) on Sep 10, 2016 at 10:10pm PDT

Then came Ajinkya Rahane's turn, and the Mumbai batsman not only survived but impressed the Head Coach with his grit and determination, even in a filmy setting. Here's the video

Video: The whites are back! @y_umesh @BhuviOfficial and @ImIshant bowling to @mvj888 at the beautiful ground in Alur pic.twitter.com/CxIAs8GnEz — BCCI (@BCCI) July 3, 2016

By the way, Rahane has reportedly earned a black belt in karate.

Luckily for India, despite the many frailties in the camp, Kohli & Co produced imperious show in the Caribbean and returned victorious.