Anjinkya Rahane: The silent warrior in Indian cricket

IPL has played a pivotal role in the lives of many cricketers. This league has literally kickstarted a lot of careers and has given the right platform to showcase one’s ability. Many players have gained fame and money through this league. One of the many such IPL finds was Ajinkya Rahane aka Jinks. Before the Indian Premier League, he was doing well in the domestic circuit as well but his efforts were majorly unnoticed. But once he made his debut at this mega event, his fate changed, people started calling him as the junior version of Rahul Dravid. And why not, there is some uncanny resemblance between both of them.

Early life and domestic cricket 

Rahane was born on 6 June, 1988 (Present age 36) and he did his schooling from SV Joshi High School. His cricketing journey started at age 7, when his father took him to a coaching camp in Dombivli. As soon as he turned 17, he took coaching from India batsman Pravin Amre. 

Rahane played age group and senior cricket from Mumbai. He was one the most popular names in the Mumbai Cricket Association. Even the groundstaff there called him as a young prodigy.  In 2007, he made his List A and first class debut. He was only 19 by then. He successfully capitalised all the chances given to him. In the 2008-09 season, he scored 1089 runs for Mumbai and contributed significantly in grabbing the Ranji trophy title. 

International career of Ajinkya Rahane 

Jinks made his T20I debut on 31 August, 2011 V England, ODI debut on 3 September, 2011 V England and Test debut on 22 March, 2013 V Australia.

Rahane was a great asset to the Indian team both as a player and as a leader. In 2021, India went to Australia for the Border Gavaskar Trophy for a four match test series. India miserably lost the first match as they were all out on 36. Then Indian skipper, Virat Kohli had to leave the team after one match and it was Rahane who rose to the occasion. He stepped in and took the reins. India won the series 2-1 and the team managed to pull off the impossible only because of him. His methods of leading were very purposeful and

These days, Ajinkya plays IPL and County cricket and domestic cricket in India. His batting provides stability to the line up. He is technically very sound and we rarely see him playing a rash shot. He is not a powerful hitter but he knows how to perfectly chip a shot between two fielders and that’s what makes him special. Even in today’s era when everyone wants to rely on lofted shots, Rahane knows how to play with the minds of the opponents and score at a good strike rate. 

He played his Last T20I on 28 August, 2016 V West Indies, last ODI on 16 February, 2018 V South Africa and last test on 20 July, 2023 V West Indies.  

International stats

Awards 

Awards are a testament of the greatness of a player. They truly reflect one’s contribution in the field and hence they are the real motivation. And just like all the GOATS in cricket, Rahane too was complimented with multiple awards throughout his journey. 
He was awarded with MA Chidambaram Trophy, he was recognised as best Under 19 cricketer in 2006-07 season. Later in 2014-15, he was recognised as CEAT Cricketer of the Year 2014-15. In 2016, he was felicitated with the Arjuna Award. He was in squad that won 2016 Asia Cup. 

IPL 

Ajinkya Rahane started his IPL journey with Mumbai Indians. He played for MI from 2008 till 2010. After that, he represented Rajasthan Royals for four seasons, which were from 2011 till 2015. Later, he played for Rising Pune Supergiants in season 2016-17. Then again he made a comeback in Royals’s dressing room in the 2018-19 season. In 2020-21 and 2022 seasons, he was part of Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders respectively. Now, presently, he is in Yellow army- Chennai Super Kings .

With all the shuffling and migration, Rahane’s game came out best under Rajasthan Royals. Over the years, he has played 185 matches and scored 4642 runs with 30 fifties and 2 tons under his belt. He was never a pinch hitter, but he found his own ways to score runs in IPL. He always made sure that his strike rate remained healthy.He has always been an asset to the team as he is not only a witty batter but a sharp fielder and a great team man as well.