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Cricket PlayersAjinkya Rahane and KKR: The perfect player-franchise combination 'raring and hungry' for success in IPL 2022
Rahane and KKR at the moment are almost the perfect combination of a player and franchise. After letting Shubman Gill go and not being able to buy Rahul Tripathi back at the auction, KKR needed a solid Indian batter at the top of the order to partner Venkatesh Iyer. Rahane was an ideal choice.
Ajinkya Rahane's decision to leave Rajasthan Royals - a franchise for which he is still the most capped player and also their highest run-getter - and move to Delhi Capitals ahead of IPL 2020 was an unexpected one purely on cricketing logic. Considering his declining stocks as a T20 batter, there was a big doubt on the number of opportunities he would get in the first XI of a DC side already having a top-order comprising Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant. Only 11 matches across two seasons with a highest score of 44 meant the doubts were real. Now the voices discussing a premature twilight in Rahane's career were getting louder with each passing day. But proving the doubters wrong has been Rahane's forte right from the time he started playing domestic cricket for Mumbai.
After hitting a hundred on his first-class debut for Mumbai against Karachi Urban in the Mohammad Nissar Trophy in 2007, Rahane's Ranji Trophy career got off to a turbulent start. A string of low scores in his first four matches meant the right-hander was facing exclusion from the XI.
In his own words to ESPNCricinfo, Rahane said there were talks of "sending him back to club cricket" in the Mumbai cricket circuit. Rahane's reply? Solid knocks in the remaining three league games that season and five consecutive seasons after that with more than 1000 runs in each of them.
Rahane since then had never looked back. His career kept soaring and despite losing his limited-overs spot in the Indian side, there was never a doubt about his red-ball batting until the last couple of years or so. Rahane lost his vice captaincy before the South Africa tour last year and was subsequently dropped from the Test squad for the home series against Sri Lanka.
In between his IPL and Test careers being in danger, Rahane received a shot in the arm in IPL mega auction. Kolkata Knight Riders picked him up at his base price of ₹1 crore.
The price hardly mattered as all Rahane needed at this stage was a franchise that would back him, believe in his strengths and benefit from his leadership skills. KKR, a franchise known for going all out in backing its core group - remember how they kept Shivam Mavi and Kamlesh Nagarkoti with their setup despite their absence from cricket due to injuries for nearly two seasons? - ticked all the boxes.
The fact that KKR had Abhishek Nayar in the support staff made it a lot easier for Rahane. Nayar, the current assistant coach of KKR, has shared the dressing room with Rahane for close to a decade while playing for Mumbai and has seen him rise through the ranks up close and personal.
‘Rahane is hungry and raring to go’: Abhishek Nayar
"One of the reasons why he was bought was that he's been a great leader for India. He's also been a terrific cricketer who has scored a lot of runs in all formats. We are hoping to get the best out of him. He's equally hungry and raring to go," Nayar said while replying to a Hindustan Times query ahead of their IPL 2022 match against RCB.
The last two sentences were crucial. Rahane is "hungry" and KKR are "hoping to get the best out of him."
Rahane's hunger was for everyone to see when he cut and pulled his way to a fluent 44 in KKR's opening match against the Chennai Super Kings.
"It is always good to have Ajinkya in the set-up for the experience he brings in. Working with him was easy because it was like having conversations like we always did during the playing days. It’s just a continuation of that,” Nayar went on to add.
Rahane and KKR at the moment are almost the perfect combination of a player and franchise.
After letting Shubman Gill go and not being able to buy Rahul Tripathi back at the auction, KKR needed a solid Indian batter at the top of the order to partner Venkatesh Iyer. Rahane, with all his experience and ability to switch his game according to the situation, was an ideal choice.
On top of that, his experience of leading a Test side and also an IPL team before, is likely to benefit a young leader in Shreyas Iyer.
“Having been a Test captain, he is someone who has leadership qualities. Also in the IPL, he has been a successful player. Just to have someone like that now partnering with Venkatesh Iyer is great,” Nayar said.
And as far as Rahane is concerned, a supportive management and a team combination that is likely to allow him a full season, IPL 2022 can present him the perfect opportunity to once again prove the doubters wrong.
“Knowing Ajinkya, he has been someone who has never played to prove anything to people. He is someone who has played for the fact that he always enjoys playing this game. He plays it with the utmost desire to do well for his team. He is an absolute team-man, if there is one player who would stand out and you consider a proper team-man, that’s Ajinkya.
“In terms of a comeback, he’s always had that calibre. When he came back from the Test side, he scored a hundred in the first first-class game he played and followed it up with a 90. He is someone who has always got runs, he has been successful even in the IPL. I don’t think he is approaching the IPL in terms of making a comeback; he is approaching the IPL making sure KKR has the best chance of winning the championship,” Nayar said.
