Ajinkya Rahane, born on June 6, 1988, is a right-handed batsman who has played both as an opener and a middle-order batsman in all formats for India. Currently, he is a middle-order batsman for India in test cricket and is also the vice-captain of the team.

He has played for Mumbai throughout his career in domestic cricket and currently plays for the Delhi Capitals in the IPL. Before that, he represented the Rajasthan Royals from 2011-2015 and 2018-2019 and Rising Pune Supergiants in 2016 and 2017 after originally playing for the Mumbai Indians till 2010.

He is commonly called “Jinks” in the cricket community and his favorite shot is the cover drive. His hobbies are playing cricket, Football, Tennis, Golf, Badminton and listening to all kinds of music.

He did his schooling at SV Joshi High school in Mumbai. He is one of only five Indian batsmen to score a century in each innings of a test match which he achieved against South Africa in 2015. He also holds the record for the highest number of catches by a non-wicket keeper in a single match with 8. He was also the winner of the CEAT Indian Cricketer of the year for 2014-2015.

Rahane has been one of the key pillars of Indian test cricket that have been the number one ranked side from 2015 till now and is known for performing when the situation and conditions are at their toughest especially away from home. He is also by far India’s best slip fielder and has taken numerous brilliant catches at that position especially off spinners.

Renowned for his calm demeanor and calculated approach, Rahane recently led India to their most famous series win over Australia in Australia taking over for Virat Kohli over the final 3 tests.

Family

Rahane was born at Sangamner Taluka, Maharashtra to Madhukar Baburao Rahane and Sujata Rahane as part of a Hindu Marata family. His father works as a Civil engineer at BEST. He also has a younger brother and sister named, Shashank and Apurva.

It was at the age of 7 when Rahane’s father, Madhukar, took Rahane to a small coaching camp in Dombivili where Ajinkya’s cricketing journey began.

Rahane married longtime childhood friend, Radhika Dhopavkar, on September 26, 2014, and the pair gave birth to their first child, daughter Aarya, in October 2014. His reception was held at the MCA and was attended by friends and colleagues in the cricket fraternity.

Early age cricket and Under 19 Cricket World cup

Rahane started his cricketing journey when he started taking coaching from former Indian cricketer Pravin Amre at the age of 17. He was part of the Indian Under 19 team that toured New Zealand in 2007 and made two centuries there.

Rahane wasn’t part of the Under 19 World cup team in 2006 as he hadn’t made any significant strides in domestic cricket yet and turned 19 just before the 2008 World cup which meant he could never play in the Under 19 Cricket World cup.

It was at the age of 19 that Rahane made his first-class debut for Mumbai in the Mohammad Nissar Trophy in 2007. He played only due to the unavailability of the regular players but ended up stroking a fabulous 143 on debut. As a result, he was picked for the Irani trophy against the Rest of India.

Rahane continued his good start scoring a terrific 172 against England Lions for West Zone in the 2007-08 Duleep Trophy.

Rahane also made his List A debut for Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2007 and made a good 61 while sharing a 171-run partnership with Wasim Jaffer in the process.

He followed up on this highly impressive start with consecutive centuries in the Emerging Players tournament in Australia a few years later that earned him a place in the India ODI squad to England in 2011.

He was also scoring a truckload of runs in the Ranji Trophy starting with his 1089 run season in 2008-2009 that helped Mumbai win their 38th title. He also scored an improbable unbeaten 265 against Hyderabad in the 2009-10 season batting at number 3.

By scoring more than 1000 runs in three separate seasons since his first-class debut along with a 152 against Rajasthan in the Irani Trophy in 2011, he got selected to the Indian test squad.

He was picked up in the IPL auction by the Mumbai Indians in 2008. Though he got limited chances there, he did make 3 half-centuries in that span of three years before being picked up by the Rajasthan Royals. Since then, Rahane has been one of the most consistent and successful players of the IPL.

Debut in Indian Cricket Team

Ajinkya Rahane made his international debut for India in the only T20 against England in August 2011. India was coming off a disastrous 4-0 thumping to England in the Test series and was looking for the youngsters to breathe new life into a tour that was fast going from bad to worse.

Opening the batting on debut, Rahane stroked a majestic 39 ball 61 and guided India to a competitive total of 165. Although India ended up losing the match, it was the first time on the tour that India even competed and it was thanks largely to Rahane’s free-spirited batting display.

Following his impressive T20 debut for India, Rahane also made a great start to his ODI career as he compiled a neat 40 on debut followed by another impressive 54 off just 47 deliveries.

Since his debut, Rahane has failed to perform consistently in the ODI and T20 arena apart from the odd spectacular inning. He also could never get a continued run opening the batting which was his specialized batting position. He was often tried at number four, a position he seemed uncomfortable in to find the balance between attack and defense.

Rahane, however, was part of the 2015 World cup Squad and the T20 World cup squads in 2014 and 2016 and made some important contributions sporadically.

Rahane was selected to the Indian squad for the series against the West Indies in November 2011. However, he had to wait for nearly a year and a half before finally getting an opportunity in the playing eleven in the final test against Australia in March 2013 replacing Shikhar Dhawan.

Rahane, unfortunately, failed in both innings of the test and had to wait in anxiety to find about his selection for subsequent tests given the competition for spots on the Indian side.

Breakthrough Inning

Rahane was part of the playing eleven in the two-test series in South Africa in 2013 despite his disappointing debut and he did not disappoint the faith shown by the selectors and the captain. He made 209 runs in 3 innings at a stupendous average of 70 on arguably the toughest conditions to bat for Asian batsmen. His finest knock on the tour came in the final innings of the second test. He had till then had a solid tour with scores of 47, 15, and 51* without playing the defining innings. However, in the second innings of the final test, with India trailing by 166 runs, they were reduced to 71-4.

Facing the prospect of an innings defeat on a spicy Durban wicket, Rahane produced a tremendous rearguard action while protecting the tail that helped India avoid an innings defeat. He made 96 and was the last man out largely due to wickets falling at the other end. He displayed a great ability to hold one end up by starting watchfully using a tight defensive technique before unleashing an array of strokes in the latter half of his innings.

This delightful display of batsmanship against the number one ranked team in the world boasting an attack of Steyn, Morkel, and Philander on a tough pitch was the first sign that Rahane had broken through and arrived on the international scene.

This led to a terrific purple patch for Rahane over the next 2 years as he made several magnificent and significant contributions in the tours of New Zealand, England, and Australia establishing himself as possibly India’s best Overseas batsman and the man for a crisis.

Some of his key contributions included his maiden test century in the second test of the New Zealand tour. He followed that with arguably the greatest test knock by an Indian batsman in England when he scored a magical century at Lord’s on a Green top after India was reduced to 140-6 as India registered one of its most famous test wins. He then followed this up with a spectacular tour of Australia at the end of 2014 and amassed 399 runs in the four tests that included a special century at the MCG.

These two years with a series of performances at the SENA countries established Rahane as one of the best test batsmen in World cricket and he hasn’t looked back since and has become one of India’s most important pillars in test cricket.

Future in Cricket

Rahane is currently a key figure in India’s test ranks holding the middle order together while also being its best overseas performer over the last 5 to 6 years. Having led a second-string Indian side to its most famous away series win in Australia recently, he is also being hailed as the next captain of India in test cricket.

While Rahane has had some issues with consistency, his uncanny ability to perform in the most difficult situations and pitches makes him one of the most valuable players on the Indian test team. He will hold the key for the next 4 to 5 years in helping India win future test series in England, South Africa, and New Zealand having previously displayed the ability to perform well on those pitches.

He is also expected to be one of the core leaders of the Test team as India blends the next generation of players with the current core group in the future.

While his white-ball prospects have diminished over the last 2 to 3 years, he still has time and the ability to break through again with impressive performances in the IPL for the Delhi Capitals.