'I took the decisions but someone else took credit' - Ajinkya Rahane on India's Australia tour triumph

Former Indian captain and vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane has been facing a lot of heat following his inability to score big runs consistently for the last couple of years. In a recent interaction, Rahane opened up about how his contributions to India’s glorious Border-Gavaskar Trophy victory in 2021 always went unnoticed.

The elegant middle-order batter hasn’t hit a century since his famous hundred at the Melbourne Cricket Ground during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2021. Since then, Rahane has averaged only 20.25 to score 547 runs in 27 innings, with three half-centuries and a high score of 67. In this period, his average has dipped from over 43 to under 39.

“I just smile when people say my career is finished, people who know the sport don’t talk like that – everyone knows what happened in Australia and even before it, my contribution in red-ball cricket, people who love the sport will talk sensibly,” he said during a chat with Boria Mazumdar on his show ‘Backstage with Boria’.

Talking about how quickly people forget his contribution to India’s historic series victory in Australia, Rahane said: “I know how I have performed and I don’t have to prove anything to anyone, and that’s not in my nature to go out there and take credit. However, there were a few decisions that I personally had to make on the field but the credit went to someone else. To me, it was important that we won the series and it was a historic series. For me, that was really special.”

Rahane took over the captaincy duties after Virat Kohli returned to India for the birth of his first child. Rahane was instrumental in picking up the team from a disastrous defeat in Adelaide where India was dismissed for 36. What followed was simply magical, with India led by Rahane’s century defeating Australia in the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne, a miraculous escape at Sydney and the famous breaching of the fortress Gabba in the last test to win the series 2-1.

I believe in my abilities, I still have good cricket left in me: Ajinkya Rahane

Taking over a side that had almost no senior players, Rahane did a tremendous job to trounce the full-strength Aussie side. When asked about how he felt when he was not given due credit for the series victory in Australia, he 33-year-old said: “Sometimes, I used to smile within because of the fact that whatever I did in the field, I won’t be able to boast about whatever I did on the field because I’m someone who can’t talk high about himself, but I knew what all I did on the field.”

When asked about his future, the right-hander seemed to be confident: “Yes, I believe in my abilities. I’ve been batting really well and I believe I still have good cricket left in me”.

Ajinkya Rahane has been selected in the Mumbai squad for Ranji Trophy this year and he’ll be looking forward to scoring big runs to cement his place in the national side again.