The wide and determined eyes. A vivid and focused mind. A diminutive structure. This is what makes up all that heroic Ajinkya Rahane is all about. The 26-year-old is a silent assassin who kills the unsuspecting opponents in the game regardless of reputation and strength. He is a small town boy who hails from Mumbai, where ensembles of legendary batsmen have come from.
Often, players are judged too early and their first Test Match is where fans tend to make definitive decisions about them. Rahane’s first test was against a deflated Australian team in Delhi in 2013. His start was disastrous and his dismissal in his secon innings, a heave over midwicket off Maxwell, left a lot of tongues wagging and questions left unanswered. That to date is his only Test on Indian soil. Ever since, he has become an integral part of the Indian Test team away from home and is progressing well in the shorter formats of the game.
He has been part of tours to England, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia and has constantly improved. His calm persona and calculated aggression sets him apart. On all these extremely difficult tours, he has played some quality innings and been a lynchpin of the Indian batting line-up. He doesn’t possess the swagger of Virat Kohli, the moustache-twirling style of Shikhar Dhawan or the dominating nature of Murali Vijay, but he has always proved to rise above challenges and score big runs in tough conditions against the best bowlers in the world.
His partnership with Virat Kohli in Melbourne in the searing heat is still fresh in memory and it was one of the most enthralling and beguiling pieces of Test cricket in recent memory. The way Rahane and Kohli confronted the Aussies was riveting to watch, to say the least. In an interview with ESPNcricinfo, Rahane stated:
“I try to play in the present by focusing ball by ball—at least for the first fifteen minutes. After that I look to dominate. Scoring runs is very important, even in Test cricket. In that first interval when I am going one ball at a time I am reading the situation, understanding the nature of the pitch, the bounce and the pace, and accordingly I adapt my game and mindset.”
His innings at Lord’s was a proof of that. India were 145/7 when Rahane and Bhuvneshwar Kumar got together and strung a 90 run partnership in just over 22 overs. The way Rahane took on Anderson and co. was, dare I say, a bit reminiscent of VVS Laxman and the way he batted with the tail. India managed to reach 295 and Rahane’s 103 was a match-winning effort in a famous Indian victory.
Although he made a worldly 79 off 60 in the World Cup encounter versus South Africa, he still acknowledges that he has a long way to go in the limited overs format. He sometimes struggles to rotate strike freely and it often saps momentum out of the innings. He has a wide array of shots, so if he can work on that aspect of the game, he can dominate in all formats.
His stint with the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL under the apprenticeship of Rahul Dravid has done him a world of good. He is currently in the list of top run getters in this season of the IPL so far and with him being given a senior role at the Royals, it will certainly make a massive difference to all aspects in his game.
He will forever be the unsung hero, and continue to scale greater heights in world cricket for many years to come. He is one of the most likeable characters in the sport, and if he remains the same and continues to strive for more success, whilst improving all the time, then boy is it scary to think what he can achieve.
