Is Ajinkya Rahane's career over? Something very bad happened to this legend in England
Ajinkya Rahane has been a strong pillar of the Indian team for a long time. Especially on foreign soil, he became the support of India's sinking innings. And who can forget the victory in Australia under his captaincy? It was under Rahane that Team India won the Test series in Australia for the second time by 2-1. However, after this, he could not play for the Indian team for a long time. Rahane, who is considered a Test specialist, has been continuously out of this format. However, Rahane is constantly trying to make a comeback. For this, after playing domestic cricket in India, he has turned to England's domestic tournament. But a big 'accident' happened to him in the first innings of England's County Championship Division 2.
Ajinkya Rahane also participated in England's ODI Cup. He played 10 matches for Leicestershire, in which he performed brilliantly. During this time Rahane scored 378 runs at an average of 42. He was the third most successful batsman in Leicestershire. He scored four half-centuries in the entire tournament, but could not score a single century. Now the County Championship has started. His team Leicestershire will play against Gloucestershire from 22 August.
Gloucestershire won the toss and decided to bowl. Leicestershire was in trouble after losing two wickets for 77 runs. After this, Ajinkya Rahane came to bat at number 4, but he too returned to the pavilion cheaply. Dominic Goodman bowled a ball on the off stump, whose bounce Rahane could not judge properly and gave a catch. Cameron Bancroft, who was in the slip, flew and took a brilliant one-handed catch. Rahane could score only 12 runs in 28 balls.
It has been more than a year since Ajinkya Rahane played a match for Team India. He did not get a chance to play against South Africa or England. BCCI has given opportunities to as many young faces as possible in the last year. Rahane is also not seen in the team management's plans for the upcoming Test series. 36-year-old Rahane has not been able to perform well for some time.
Before failing in the first innings of the county, he scored just 8 runs against the West Indies. Although he was the third-highest run-scorer on the Australia tour, he could score only 268 runs in 8 innings at an average of 38. At the same time, Rahane's performance in the domestic tournament was also very poor. In the 2023-24 Ranji Trophy, he scored 141 runs in 8 matches at an average of just 12.