January, 2021 was indeed a special month for Indian cricket. Earlier, December saw India’s 36-all out debacle, their lowest ever Test score in the history and the regular skipper Virat Kohli leaving the tour midway to fulfill his paternity commitments. A depleted squad bounced back to its fullest when they completed a historic victory by breaching the fortress Gabba in the final Test of the four-match series. “Toota hai Gabba ka ghamand” made headlines. The entire fan fraternity in India was basking in the glory of a historic Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The Indian skipper came back home after the historic victory and his society members in Mumbai welcomed him with a kangaroo-shaped cake to mock Australia. He went there and refused to cut that cake and agreed once that kangaroo replica was removed. In an interview later, he stated that it was a gesture to respect the National symbol of a country. To those who know, Ajinkya Rahane, knows that he is a man of gestures and somebody who always steps up when anything wrong happens in and around.
When Afghanistan was touring India for their maiden Test match and succumbed to a heavy defeat by an innings and 262 runs, it was Rahane who called the entire Afghan contingent to pose for a photograph with the winner’s board in front. When Mohammad Siraj was racially abused during the Sydney Test of 2020-21 BGT, it was Rahane who stopped the game and informed the on-field umpires Paul Reiffel and Paul Wilson about the incident and lodged a formal complaint. In totality, he is a man filled with deep empathy and guided by a strict moral compass.
When talking about the 2020-21 BGT, it is regarded as his heyday. India slumped to a defeat in the Adelaide Test and desperately needed somebody to step up to make a comeback with everything at stake. Rahane took the captaincy during that tumultuous time, had the added pressure as he ran Virat Kohli out in the last Test and the Mumbaikar stepped up! His 112 helped India to get a decisive advantage as he became the only the fourth Asian captain to score a Test hundred at the G. Hanif Mohammad, Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammad Yousaf were the others to achieve the feat.
However, the journey was not easy for him. In 2008-09, he scored 1089 runs in the Ranji Trophy and till date, he is one of the four cricketers to score over 1000 in a season. Rusi Modi (1008 in 1944-45), Wasim Jaffer (1260 in 2008-09) and Shreyas Iyer (1321 in 2015-16) are the others. He was included in the Indian Test squad for the first time in late 2011 and had to wait for 16 Tests to make his Test debut. In these 16 months, India had Rahul Dravid-VVS Laxman retired but Virat Kohli consolidated his position in the middle order. For one series, Yuvraj Singh came back for one final opportunity in Tests and Rahane had to wait. Finally in 2013, ahead of the Delhi Test, the regular opener Shikhar Dhawan had a knuckle injury and India had to promote Cheteshwar Pujara to open. A vacancy was created in the middle order and he was conferred with the 278th Test cap. Though it was not a memorable debut for him, Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement in the same year paved a way for him to get settled in the middle order.
Rahane grabbed the opportunity with both hands. He played his second Test in December, 2013. A 96 in Durban, a century in Wellington, a Test century at Lord’s and a fantastic 147 at the MCG came in the next one year. 2015 saw him score multiple away Test hundreds and a twin hundred in the Delhi Test against the Proteas. From December 2013 to the next three years, Rahane amassed 2122 runs at 50.52 batting average and was one of the seven batters to score at above 50 averages. Virat Kohli (57.05), Steven Smith (76.11), Angelo Mathews (53.63), Younis Khan (54.12), Joe Root (64.12) and Ross Taylor (54.97) were the others.
However, post the start of 2017, his number had a real drop. He played 53 Tests from January 2017 to his final Test in July, 2023 and scored 2795 runs at an average of mere 33.67. In this phase, only 19 batters have gone past 2000 runs in Tests and only two had averages below Rahane. The names are Niroshan Dickwella (32.07) and Jos Buttler (32.66). These declining numbers highlighted that an omission was always on the cards. After that BGT hundred in 2020-21, he played 31 century less innings and was left out of the Indian squad for the Sri Lanka series in February, 2022. But he made a comeback for the World Test Championship final and his 89 helped India to stay afloat when the others had a rough day with the bat.
Across a career of 85 Tests, 90 ODIs and 20 T20Is, Rahane scored 8414 international runs. He became the 16th highest run getter in Tests for India with 5077 runs in his kitty. As a slip fielder, Rahane was phenomenal. In the Galle Test against Sri Lanka in 2015, he took 8 catches as an outfielder in a Test match and it was the highest number of catches taken by an outfielder for 10 years. Aiden Markram toppled that taking 9 catches in the Guwahati Test against India in November, 2025.
Despite the slump in form and prolonged questioned stay in the Test team, one can never ignore the fact that Rahane was instrumental in setting a formidable middle order trio with Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli which helped India to dominate fiercely in the Kohli’s era. As a trio they had established a complementarity which didn’t let the bowlers settle. Started his career well with the white ball but he lost his relevance as the years progressed and did not play a limited over format game post 2018.
Ajinkya Rahane’s career was marked with a prodigious start. Both domestically and internationally, he had a prolific run early in his career. But lost the batting form in the middle which led to the omission. The questions were raised heavily in the far end of his career and his final captaincy stint with Kolkata Knight Riders was also a matter of controversy and was filled with dubious decisions. But those do not take away anything from the volume he achieved. The career was a fine one!
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