With Ravi Shastri’s arm around him in the senior team and Rahul Dravid’s at Rajasthan Royals, one thing Ajinkya Rahane can stay assured about is that his talent is well taken care of.
It’s widely known how Shastri threw his weight around Suresh Raina, calling him a ‘special talent’ that India must handle with care. And the world is equally well aware of the fact how Dravid has mentored youngsters in the Royals squad into champion cricketers.
Shastri wasn’t around when Raina fell apart in the Test arena, but now that he is the Team India Director, the former India captain will ensure that Rahane’s extraordinary batsmanship isn’t lost among the rigors of limited-overs cricket.
On Friday in Fatullah, albeit against a mediocre Bangladesh attack, Rahane strengthened the reputation he built during that record 267-run partnership with Virat Kohli at MCG last Boxing Day Test.
Rahane’s career-best 147 on that 28th day of December last year substantiated the belief of many, that he – maybe after Virat Kohli – is the next big thing in Indian batting.
Like Melbourne, where 21 boundaries flew during Rahane’s 171-ball stay, Fatullah too saw similar belligerence from the bat of 27-year-old Indian batsman – though with a tinge of disappointment in the end for missing a Test hundred by mere two runs.
Striking his runs at 95.14, Rahane once again highlighted the fact that he has multiple gears about his batting.
MCG and Fatullah were in strike contrast to Lord’s in July when Rahane strode in at 145 for 7 and scored 103 in a dogged partnership with Bhuvneshwar Kumar – unequivocally highlighting his ability to gauge the situation and play accordingly.
With three hundreds in 14 Tests and a healthy average of 44.87, all Rahane needs is mentors who know exactly how to harness and groom his talent to live up to the standards he has set for himself. And for that, he has his role model Dravid and Shastri to turn to for advice.
“He (Dravid) is my role model and I have played with him in the Indian team and also with Rajasthan Royals. I learned a lot on and off the field and just want to thank Rahul bhai,” Rahane had told ESPNCricinfo after scoring his maiden Test hundred in Wellington last February.
Before that tour, he felt perilously close to his first three-figure mark, when he got dismissed for 96 in the Durban Test. “When you get out on 96, it comes in fifties,” Rahane has said in the past, making it evident how hungry he is for big scores.
And Dravid feels Rahane will have answer to all questions he may face during his career.
“He has now developed a real belief in his game and ability,” Dravid had told ESPNcricinfo’s the ‘Cricket Monthly’.
“I can see there is a confidence. Like every batsman, he will have certain doubts and fears, but I have seen that over the last few years, he knows he has the game and the ability to be able to answer a lot of the questions that are going to be posed to him,” Dravid had said.
Certainly Rahane isn’t disappointing his idol and mentor, and with Shastri there to shape up his India career, there can only be better times ahead for the middle-order batsman.
