A dressing room full of tattooed arms, gelled hair, peroxide highlights and dabbing twenty-somethings defines the post-Tendulkar era of Indian cricket. Amidst all the glitter and spunk of the youthful Indian dressing room, a quiet young man of short stature was the unlikely outcast.
Rahane's came out on top in his first encounter with international bowlers, easing his way to a 172 in a Duleep Trophy encounter against the likes of England internationals like Liam Plunkett and Graham Onions. Rahane then delivered a critical performance of undeniable prowess when he hammered two hundreds in the emerging players' tournament in Australia, proving his worth in adverse conditions, and reminded observers of the game of another teen-aged Mumbaikar, with a similarly punchy technique, who had taken a special liking to Australian pitches in 1992...
After his peerless performance in Australia, he was well and truly in the national reckoning. It couldn't have been timed better; in August 2011, the Indian limited overs side found itself in desperate circumstances after conceding the Test series 0-4 in England. With several players undergoing lack of form and ailing from injuries, Rahane was flown in for the T20Is against England. He responded immediately as a stand-in opener with a fluent 61 on T20I debut and 40 on ODI debut, showing that adaptability was definitely a virtue that he could be entrusted with. A compact technique was the call of the hour and he definitely had the skills to encounter the late movement, as opposed to several of his technically-inferior compatriots. However, he soon started a bench-warming spree that would last a few months after the regulars returned for the home season.
Rahane went on to become India's most accomplished batsman overseas (along with Murali Vijay) throughout India's away season in 2013/14. After missing out in Durban, he scored his maiden hundred in Wellington on the tour to New Zealand on a seaming surface. On a garden of a seaming track in Lord's, he paved the way for India's first Lord's victory in 28 years (and their first major overseas win since Perth 2008) with a composed 103, getting himself on the honours board in the process. Later in the series, he continued to look the most technically-skilled batsman amongst his teammates - the rock that survived the English storm in the last three Tests. He ended the year with a magnificent 147 on a bouncy MCG strip during the Boxing Day Test against Australia, stitching together a 262-run partnership with Virat Kohli. This, on the back of an 81 on a seaming track at the Gabba, reinforced his reputation as the rock in the Indian middle-order.
Rahane saw a bit of a dip in form during the Ranji Trophy season of 2017/18, as Mumbai uncharacteristically failed to get past the quarter-final stages, scoring his first duck in Ranji cricket since 2008. His run of poor form lasted alarmingly long as he failed to make any significant contribution in the home series against a scarcely competent Sri Lankan bowling line-up.
After a barren run which saw him go 15 Tests without a ton, Rahane was dropped from the Indian team after the away series in South Africa in 2022.
IPL through the years
In the initial years, Ajinkya Rahane played for his native franchise, the Mumbai Indians. As he was a rookie uncapped player at that point, not many opportunities arrived and it was not until his shift to Rajasthan Royals that Rahane started to show consistency in the IPL. A steady opener who can find the gaps in the Powerplay and consolidate thereafter, he became one of the vital cogs around which the Royals batting revolved. The 2012 season was his breakthrough year in the tournament, amassing over 550 runs at a healthy strike rate, including his maiden IPL century. In fact, the years 2012-16 saw Rahane cementing his position as one of the most consistent performers in the tournament’s history.
Ahead of the 2023 auction, Rahane was brought for INR 50 Lakh by CSK.