On Ajinkya Rahane's 34th birthday, let's go down the memory lane and look at his brilliant performances:
-
112 vs Australia at Melbourne Cricket Ground (2020)
This was the match when due to the unavailability of Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane was handed over the responsibility to lead Team India. He led by an example and smashed a brilliant century in the 2nd Test against Australia. He registered his 12th Test century and second after 2014 against the Kangaroos at the iconic MCG.
After the match, Rahane became only the second Indian batter after Vinoo Mankad to score two Test centuries at the MCG.
-
103 vs England at Lord's (2014)
India were struggling at 86/3 when Rahane joined Cheteshwar Pujara in the middle. The batting order started collapsing and India reached a point where the score was 145/7. While every other batsman faced trouble scoring, Rahane scored a crucial 103 off just 154 balls. He smashed 15 fours and a six. India was able to put in 295 runs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma's bowling and batting from Murali Vijay and Ravindra Jadeja in the second innings led India to a memorable 95-run victory.
-
51 and 96 vs South Africa in Durban, 2013
In 2013, during the second Test match between India and South Africa, India had scored 334 but still conceded a massive 166-run lead. Rahane remained unbeaten with 51 runs batting at number 6 in the first innings. In the second inning, Dale Steyn and Vernon were bowling lethally when Rahane joined Rohit Sharma at the crease. He scored fluent 96 off 157 balls and gave a tough fight. But eventually, India lost the match but Rahane won hearts.
Ajinkya Rahane plays a memorable knock for India (File photo)
-
111 vs Sri Lanka at Barabati Stadium, 2014
This was the time when Rahane scored his highest ODI runs. He came to open with Shikhar Dhawan and hammered 111 off 108 balls. He had hit 13 boundaries and two maximums during his knock. India won the match by 169 run-margin.
Ajinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan in action (file photo)
-
81 & 102 vs West Indies in North Sound, 2019
Rahane top-scored for the country in both the innings during this series. He came out to bat when India was 25/3 in the first innings, and scored 81.
India had a substantial first-innings lead but again the batting order started struggling at 81/3 in the second innings. And then entered Rahane and formed a match-defining stand with Virat Kohli. He made a second successive century partnership with Hanuma Vihari. Rahane scored 102 as India set a target of 419. India won that match by 318 runs.
