Credit: ICC
On June 6, 1988, India batter Ajinkya Rahane was born in Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra to Madhukar Baburao Rahane and Sujata Rahane. At the age of seven, his father Madhukar took Rahane to a small coaching camp with a matting wicket in the Dombivli area of Mumbai. After 10 years, he became a part of former India batter Pravin Amre’s ‘Amre’s Cricket Clinic’ in Shivaji Park, Dadar. At the age of 19, he made his debut in First-Class cricket with his appearance for Mumbai against Karachi Urban in in the Mohammad Nissar Trophy held in Pakistan in September 2007. Grabbing the opportunity with both hands, he struck a ton and became the centre of attention.
His sensational performance helped him to get selected for the Irani Trophy match against Rest of India. Earlier in March 2007, he broke into List A cricket with his debut for Mumbai against Delhi in the quarter-final of the Ranji One-Day Trophy (now Vijay Hazare Trophy). After four years of diligence in domestic cricket, Rahane was picked to represent India in white-ball series in England. In the T20 International (T20I) match between India and England played at Old Trafford in August 2011, he made his impressive international debut with his amazing 61 off 39.
In March 2013, he was handed his Test debut against Australia in Delhi. The same year, he exhibited his batting excellence against South Africa in the Test match played in Durban. In the losing cause, he scored an unbeaten 51 and 96 against the Proteas’ formidable bowling unit. Rahane has racked up 12 centuries in red-ball cricket in which eight came in overseas conditions. His first three Test tons came against New Zealand, England, and Australia at the iconic venues Basin Reserve, Lords’ and Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) respectively.
Ajinkya Rahane’s scintillating achievement as India’s stand-in captain in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21
In the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, when India were downbeat after the humiliating eight-wicket defeat at the hands of Australia in Adelaide, Rahane was handed the leadership responsibility as regular skipper Virat Kohli was on paternity leave due to the birth of his first child.
Leading the team from the front in the second Test at MCG, he notched up 112 and guided the team to a convincing eight-wicket win. His courageous batting show also got him the Player of the Match (POTM) award. Following this performance, India’s confidence got a major boost as they went on to beat Australia in the final Test of the competition played at Gabba and also won the Test series on the Aussie soil for the second time. With this success, Rahane became the second India captain to win Test series in Australia.
