Cap number 278, signing off: Rahane announces retirement

Ajinkya Rahane retires with 5,077 Test runs, reflecting a career marked by pressure resilience and notable leadership, yet raising questions of underachievement.

Mumbai: Ajinkya Rahane can evoke a range of emotions among Indian cricket fans. The young generation, brought up on an overdose of white-ball cricket, would have liked him to take on the spinners head-on rather than hang on the back foot. Some others felt he was too indecisive at times. And for the Mumbai fraternity, he was not assertive enough to deal with dressing room politics. But ask his opponents and a different view of Rahane emerges — a tough, hard-nosed character who thrived under pressure.

Ajinkya Rahane has scored 5077 runs in 85 Tests. (AFP)

On Thursday, three years after playing his last Test for India, the middle-order batter from Mumbai announced his international retirement, finishing with 5077 runs in 85 matches. For some cricketers, numbers don’t tell the full story and Rahane definitely falls into this category.

While most batters from the sub-continent loved batting at Sydney and Adelaide, Rahane’s best came at the majestic Melbourne Cricket Ground. When a batter gets runs at MCG, it settles any debate over his quality. Apart from sharp bounce and movement, the Melbourne weather can keep changing through the day and the field is bigger than any cricket ground in Australia.

In fourTests at the iconic venue, Rahane scored two hundreds, topping the averages among all India batters (369 runs at 73.80). Virender Sehwag is next best (280 runs in 2 Tests, avg 70). Sachin Tendulkar has 449 runs in 5 Tests (44.90 avg) while Virat Kohli averages 31.50 at the ground (316 runs in 3 matches).

Rahane’s 2014 hundred came against an attack that included Mitchell Johnson, who at that point was at his peak, bowling at frightening pace. In his previous series at home, he had blown England away on his way to 37 wickets. The highlight of Rahane’s power-packed 147 were the pull shots against the intimidating Australian left-arm pacer. It was jaw dropping stuff.

It was a time when Rahane was also at his peak. He got a chance in international cricket in 2013, after a tough grind in the domestic circuit had prepared him well.

The boy from the distant suburbs of Mumbai, had been toughened up by travelling alone from Dombivali to town to train. In a brilliant start to his Test career, eight of Rahane’s 12 hundreds came in his first 29 Tests apart from a superb 96 at Kingsmead, Durban, against a lethal South Africa attack of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel. At that point, there was not much to separate between him and Kohli as the team’s batting lynchpins.

The rest of Rahane’s career, however, raises a genuine question: did he underachieve?

Playing 85 Tests is no mean achievement. There will be a lot of satisfaction because he contributed massively in the tough, overseas conditions with eight of his Test hundreds coming away from home. It’s an anomaly that his away record (39.92 avg) is better than his home record (35.74).

Had he matched his home performances, he would have been celebrated much more. Rahane also proved his value as an outstanding slip catcher, taking a record 34 catches off R Ashwin’s bowling in Test cricket.

Announcing his retirement through a video message on his Instagram account, Rahane said: “The reality of life is that everything has a beginning, and everything has an end. When that time comes, you simply have to respect it and move forward. I always relied on timing in my batting, and I’ve always understood it’s important.

“Today, I feel the timing is right for me to move on and announce my requirement from international cricket, and all formats,” he added in the clip that was captioned ‘Cap number 278, signing off’.”

When he sits back to reflect on his career, the only regret Rahane would have is that he was not given the opportunity to captain India in Tests on a full-time basis. After leading the country to the toughest of victories against Australia in the 2020-21 series, he should have been an automatic choice as Kohli’s successor.

Some actors are docile away from the spotlight, but the moment the camera is turned on, they simply come alive. Rahane was similar. He thrived as a captain.

The way he marshalled a depleted side to victory in the 2020-21 series Down Under is easily one of the finest examples of leadership in recent times. And it was not a one-off show. Rahane had shown his brilliance as a leader in the series decider against Australia in March 2017, in Dharamsala. In six Tests as captain, he never tasted defeat. And for many, that will be the lasting memory.