Ajinkya Rahane keen to enrich his repertoire of strokes

A lynchpin in India’s batting line-up at the top of the order, Ajinkya Rahane has been one of the most consistent performers for the Men in Blue over the past couple of seasons. Known for his exquisite timing and deft strokeplay, the right-hander has been clinical in providing impetus at the start of the innings. Rahane has impressed everyone with his fearless stroke-making and has an audacious approach against the new ball.

However, with the India vs Sri Lanka series just around the corner, the 29-year-old was seen practising new shots in the nets to enrich his repertoire of strokes. Earlier this week, on Monday, Rahane walked into the spinners’ net at Eden Gardens and began reverse-sweeping roughly every fourth ball. Each time Kuldeep Yadav floated one, a little wide of the off stump, Rahane would go pliably onto his back knee to reverse-slap him square or reverse-paddle. Although he could be seen struggling, he looked adamant and pertinent to perfect the shot.

Rahane feels it’s important to evolve his game

The reverse-sweep isn’t a shot a more traditional batsman Rahane is known to play all that much. Neither was the orthodox sweep, until a few months ago, during the India vs Australia series when he used it with great effect to disrupt Nathan Lyon’s line in a match to form a formidable partnership with Cheteshwar Pujara in Bengaluru.

Asked if he was comfortable enough with the reverse-sweep, Rahane said, “It’s important to improve your game day by day. When you’re practicing in the nets, it is important to evolve and I am just practicing. I just want to improve. I always think that if I improve one shot in the nets session, I’ll be better off during the game – if the opportunity comes in the game, I am 100% confident of playing a particular shot.”

He further added, “I am just practicing – reverse-sweep, sweep, paddle sweep. Just an option.”