Rahane: Following The Footsteps Of ‘The Wall’

Head still, bat ready, high elbow, front foot punch, down the ground.. silence, madness, four. Vintage Ajinkya Rahane!

For the majority of his International career, Rahane has lived in the shadows of his peers, not his fault though. People generally notice the exuberance of Virat Kohli, swagger of Shikhar Dhawan and the good looks of Suresh Raina. Rahane comes in as a simple bloke, not interested in the additional perks that come along with the game. He works hard, plays for the team, scores runs and repeats the procedure.

Rahane’s International career has been on the lines of his mentor, Rahul Dravid. Dravid spent most of his career in the shadows of Sachin Tendulkar despite the fact that he was probably a better test batsman than him. This however played to his benefit and Dravid himself accepts it. While the world adored Sachin for his greatness, Dravid silently put in tons of run and was a major factor in winning overseas Test matches for India. Rahane is following the footsteps of his master!

Rahane started making inroads when he was in India’s U-19 tour to New Zealand. In company of now India’s test captain, Virat Kohli, Rahane outscored everyone handsomely and was the only standout batsman for India but somehow still had to wait for years to make his international debut.

In that tough time, he would go on to score truckloads of runs in the domestic circuit. He made the probable list for the 2011 World cup but couldn’t make the final cut. His reckoning though, came in that very year when India toured England.

He made his debut in a T20 International, scoring 61 runs but couldn’t convert his starts into big scores in the following ODI series. This was followed by a few chances he would get here and there but failing to make a mark.

His Test Debut came in 2013 against Australia. I remember being at the Test match at Delhi when he threw away his wickets in both the Innings without putting in much of a fight. India won that series 4-0 but Rahane still hadn’t made his mark, yet.

When Sachin Tendulkar retired, a spot became vacant for Rahane and there was no looking back for the young talent. An impressive series against South Africa gave the kick start he needed in his International career. It was followed by an impressive series against New Zealand where he was in complete ease in comparison to the other Indian batsman.

Consistent performances in Tests gave him a spot in the ODI team as well. His batting order though would fluctuate from being the opener to batting in the middle order but his performances did not suffer. Ajinkya Rahane had finally arrived!

Ajinkya Rahane is a classy batsman who you would not see slog or play cross batted shots even in T20 matches. Not surprising though, he hit Mitchell Strac for 6 consecutive fours in an over in the IPL.

He has cemented his spot in all the formats of the game: No. 5 spot in Test matches and opener in the limited over formats. He has now become one of the guaranteed starters and one of the first names on the team sheet. Perseverance and hard work did pay off!

Sachin, after his last test match called him separately and told him to keep working hard like he always had and never give up the love he has for the game. He ended up by saying, “Game will look after you” and how can the God be wrong?

As we stand, Rahane has ensured a draw in the last test match against Australia and is a key element in the ODI team, in pursuit of winning the World cup next month.