Rajasthan Royals reveal reason behind trading Ajinkya Rahane to Delhi Capitals

The Indian Premier League 2020 tournament is still months away from lighting up the stadiums but the upcoming auction is just a few days away from the start. The mega IPL auction is certain to witness the bidding war in Kolkata on December 19. Meanwhile, all the eight IPL teams performed an in-depth analysis and after which, each management has retained and released the players from the respective franchises.

Ahead of the upcoming auction, Ajinkya Rahane who has been closely associated with Rajasthan Royals for many years besides being their highest run-getter was signed up by Delhi Capitals. The veteran Rahane has been one of the stalwarts for the Royals and had a pretty good 2019 season. He essayed 393 runs in 14 games at a decent average of 32.75, including an unbeaten 105* against Delhi Capitals.

Despite being statistically good, Rajasthan Royals have decided to let go of the talismanic batsman who has also skippered the team in 24 of his 100 IPL games between 2011 and 2019. Despite being a vital cog in the Rajasthan Royals’ set up, the team management had traded Ajinkya Rahane with Delhi Capitals in place of leg-spinners- Mayank Markande and Rahul Tewatia respectively.

Ajinkya Rahane doesn’t have full freedom to play across formats other than the red-ball cricket because the Indian team management had drafted in different quality of players for limited-overs set up. Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting had also stressed on the fact that the management signed Rahane is because of his massive experience and his immense potential to do well on the Kotla wicket in Delhi.

Rajasthan Royals COO on trading Ajinkya Rahane

When asked why the Rajasthan Royals’ team management made up their mind to let go of veteran Rahane, Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Rajasthan Royals, Jake Lush McCrum told that the brigade already is well equipped with a lot of quality openers while adding that they are pretty focussed on fixing the leak in the leg-spin department.

Jake Lush McCrum also heaped praise on Ajinkya Rahane, calling him a “Royals legend” for his exemplary services to the franchise. Chief Operating Officer at Rajasthan Royals wished Ajinkya Rahane good luck for his future endeavors.

“Ajinkya Rahane is a Royals legend and will always be a member of our family. He is an exceptionally talented cricketer, whose century last year was one of the best performances of IPL 2019, and we wish him all the best in Delhi. The reason for the trade was due to our excessive number of quality openers, compared to our lack of depth in the leg-spin department, which we have all seen is incredibly important.

Both Markande and Tewatia have performed in the IPL and we believe they can add significant value to the team this year. Tewatia also has the ability to bat big late on in an innings which is very valuable,” Jake Lush McCrum told Hindustan Times.

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