The last few years haven’t been great for Ajinkya Rahane. Not only his Test career has been on a downward spiral, but his Indian T20 league career seems to be coming to a premature end as well. At his peak, he was one of Rajasthan’s key players.
However, he had two quiet editions while playing for Delhi and was then released by the franchise in 2021. Yet, Kolkata showed faith in him as they purchased him during the mega auction for his base price. It will be exciting to see if the Mumbai batter can get his career back on track.
Thus, the upcoming edition of the Indian T20 League is an ideal platform for him to get back his lost form. Kolkata’s mentor David Hussey recently spoke highly of Rahane. He mentioned that the batter has been training really hard. He also felt that the Indian batter still has 5-10 years of international cricket left in him.
“Rahane is a class player. He’s been a class player for over a decade for Indian cricket; he’s dominated for the Rajasthan-based franchise. I think he’s got at least 5 to 10 years of international cricket left in him. He’s a class player. He might not have scored the runs he wants to recently, but the way he is training and the way he works on his game, he’s going to score his runs, he’s going to dominate in the Indian T20 league,” said David Hussey in the presser.
Rahane was recently in the news for getting dropped from India’s squad for the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka. Besides, he was demoted in BCCI’s recent central contracts. Nevertheless, Hussey spoke about the benefits of having Rahane in the side. He spoke about how he can also help youngsters.
“But also, he’s a leader amongst the group as well. So not just on-field performances, but off-field, helping all the youngsters sort of gel. He’s just a quality human being and I am happy that he’s part of our team,” he added. Kolkata are all set to face Chennai in the tournament opener on March 26. As the franchise made it to the final in 2021, they would want to give a step further, and win their third title this time around.