Rahane’s leadership hardly got the applause it merited

Ajinkya Rahane instructs a teammate during India’s victorious tour of Australia in 2020-21. Pic/AFP

Ajinkya Rahane's retirement brings to a close the era of batsmanship that brought India some of its finest moments in Test cricket. Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and now Rahane. What a batting line-up it was and what delightful moments they gave us cricket lovers. It was as special as those that preceded them - Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman.

Always respectful

I remember being introduced to a young Ajinkya Rahane by Milind Rege when we were in the line to greet a newly wedded couple at their reception. I was immediately struck by the respectful way he first greeted Milind. Milind had been raving about Rahane and Rohit Sharma as the future of not just Mumbai's batting but also India's. Both have lived up to the faith my dear departed friend had in their abilities. They did it in contrasting style and in the process gave cricket lovers some memories to cherish.

Rahane's performances overseas were much better than in India and he relished the true bounce that the pitches there gave where he could play on the rise. That also got him into trouble when the ball moved a little bit but whenever India was in trouble it was invariably when Ajinkya was at his best.

His record as a skipper is exceptional, with four wins out of six and no losses. Like Rahul Dravid, who also had some terrific wins under his captaincy but never got the credit he deserved, so also Rahane's leadership hardly got the applause that it merited. This is typical of Indian cricket. When the team wins, all praise goes to the individual achievers, be it batters and bowlers, but when the team loses, the captain and the coach get the blame.

After the demoralising collapse of 36 all out in the first Test of the 2021 series Down Under, it was Rahane along with Ravi Shastri who picked the team from the dumps. The vice-captain took over a ship that was ready to sink and not only sailed it into calmer waters but also gave India an unprecedented first win at Australia's fortress ‘The Gabba' and with it the series victory too. In fact, in the final Test of the series when most of the top players were unavailable due to injury, India pulled off one of its greatest victories in Test cricket. It proved once again, if ever it was needed, that nobody is indispensable in this game.

Rahane leaves the game with his head held high and the sincere thanks of cricket lovers for the totally selfless way he played the game.

It's not of many cricketers that it can be said that they did not have a single enemy in the game. There are perhaps less than a dozen to the best of my knowledge and experience. Ajinkya Rahane can take his place there with his typical humility.

Can't thank Rahane enough

Indian cricket is proud of you Ajinkya and we can't thank you enough for your wonderful services to it. You may have stopped playing, but Indian cricket needs you and your expertise and experience to take it to even greater heights.

04
No. of Test wins for Ajinkya Rahane as captain; he didn't lose a single one of his 6 Tests in charge

Eight
No. of years Mumbai's Ranji Trophy title drought lasted (2016-24); it was finally ended under Ajinkya Rahane's captaincy

Professional Management Group