Ajinkya Rahane has retired from all forms of cricket last week and now legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar has shared his opinion for him.
Sunil Gavaskar feels that Indian cricket never gave Ajinkya Rahane the respect he deserved as a captain. He compared Rahane’s situation to that of Rahul Dravid. According to Gavaskar, Dravid also had some terrific wins as a captain but never got proper credit for it and the same thing happened with Rahane.
Ajinkya Rahane was always a quiet person. He never liked attention and just did his job silently. But whenever Virat Kohli was not available, Rahane stepped up and proved that he is a very good leader for India in Test cricket.
His biggest achievement as a captain is definitely the historic Border-Gavaskar Trophy win in Australia in 2020-21. It was a victory against all odds.
Sunil Gavaskar praised his captaincy record in his column for a leading daily, saying it is exceptional. As captain, Ajinkya Rahane won four out of six Tests and never lost a single one.
Sunil Gavaskar also explained the mindset of Indian cricket. He said this is typical – when the team wins, all the praise goes to the batters and bowlers who perform well but when the team loses, only the captain and the coach are blamed.
To remind everyone of how big that Australia series win was, India had a terrible start. They were bowled out for just 36 runs in the first Test. After that, Virat Kohli had to return to India because he and his wife Anushka Sharma were expecting their first child. To make things worse, the team suffered many injuries. But from being 0-1 down, India made an amazing comeback to win the series 2-1.
Sunil Gavaskar gave credit to Ajinkya Rahane and then coach Ravi Shastri for lifting the team after that low point of 36 all out. He said the vice-captain took charge of a sinking ship, brought it to calm waters and led India to a historic first ever win at Australia’s fortress, The Gabba, which also gave India the series.
Ajinkya Rahane certainly did a lot for Indian cricket and he deserves all the respect for that.
