Ajinkya Rahane was never identfied for his T20 batting. In 14 previous seasons of the IPL, he managed an average strike rate of 120.7 in scoring 4074 runs, laced with 30 fifty-plus scores. Between 2020 and 2022, he played 16 innings at a strike rate of just above 100, with Kolkata Knight Riders having offered him only one game in the 15th season of IPL despite spending a crore on him at the auction. Hence, Rahane was surely not a big name ahead of the auction for the 2023 season. Yet Chennai Super Kings put faith on the veteran cricketer and they were rewarded in the most stunning fashion.
In six innings in IPL 2023, Rahane has scored 224 runs, laced with two fifties, at a monumental strike rate of 189.83, the second-highest among batters who have faced at least 100 balls this season. His breathtaking form has also earned him a Player of the Match award as CSK stand among the top contenders to make the playoffs in IPL 2023.
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It has been an unbelievable return with the bat from Rahane and CSK have been reaping the rewards for it. But CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan credited skipper MS Dhoni for the big call. Speaking to Cricbuzz, he revealed Dhoni's exact words during CSK's strategy meeting for the auction ahead of the IPL 2023 season which urged the management to pick Rahane.
"'Nothing like it if you can get him', MS told me when I asked him, and that is why we bid for Rahane," Viswanathan recalled. There were no other bidders for Rahane at the auction with CSK having acquired him at his base price of INR 50 lakh.
{{/usCountry}}"'Nothing like it if you can get him', MS told me when I asked him, and that is why we bid for Rahane," Viswanathan recalled. There were no other bidders for Rahane at the auction with CSK having acquired him at his base price of INR 50 lakh.
{{/usCountry}}The call indeed was risky not just based on Rahane's reputation in IPL but also his recent domestic run. In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he managed only 112 runs in eight innings at a striek rate of 117.89 with his highest being a knock of 34. But it has been a victory not just for Rahane, but also for CSK and it was all down to Dhoni's wisdom.