In July 1996 at the home of cricket, Lords, a place where people are immaculately dressed, the pavilion is hertiage building, good leave outside the off stump is appreciated, and the perfect technique is respected, Indian great Rahul Dravid made his debut. No other cricketer over the past 15 years would have been better suited to the customs at Lords. At that point in time had Rahul Dravid sat in the time machine and gone forward 15 years, he may have wondered what a debut for Rahul Dravid would be like in the current age of cricket? Well, during his brief twenty20 debut innings he had a vision of it only 15 yards down the pitch.
On the other end was young man from Mumbai in Ajinkya Rahane. The Mumbaikar is almost the same age that Dravid was when he made his debut in the conventional scene at Lords, but this was Rahane’s debut in the perfect scene of modern day cricket – 20 over matches, coloured clothing, the dot ball is booed, edge over the keeper is appreciated and batsmen make a mockery of perfect technique. Apart from the different settings, there was an immediate impact and there was a parallel between both of these cricketers at the same age.
Although Rahane was in coloured clothing and making his debut in twenty20 cricket, there were glimpses in his batting that showed he is the old style modern day cricketer.
More importantly, Rahane was the student of Mumbai batsmanship and proved himself in the domestic circuit in four-day matches. The term “four day” is emphasised as this is the missing recipe for selectors when it comes to any format of cricket. In fact, Rahane has a record so impressive that only three batsman in the history of first class cricket average more than Rahane – Vijay Merchant, Don Bradman and George Headley.
Rahane, a lad from Dombivilli, an outer middle class suburb in Mumbai went to a school which only had one practice cricket net for over 300 kids in the local area. The rise to the top has been a long process of proving his ability in school cricket, club cricket, Kanga league, Mumbai academy and then the Irani and Ranji trophy. Unlike Rohit Sharma or Suresh Raina, he doesn’t have the flair which is so often needed in modern day cricket to make headlines. What he lacks in flair is made up in dedication and hard work that has led to solid technique.
In his book The Winning way, Harsha Bhogle suggests that what make Rahul Dravid great is that “he became as good as he can be.” Dravid was never as talented as Sachin Tendulkar, but it is the dedication to get the best out of himself that allowed him to be as good as Tendulkar.
Similarly Rahane is known for spending hours in the nets improving his technique. During the IPL season last year when Shane Warne was asked who was the most hard working batsman, he immediately mentioned Ajinkya Rahane. Warne said, “Every optional training session Rahane would be there batting and constantly working on his technique and concentration,” and the spin whizz mentioned he reminded him a lot of Rahul Dravid in terms of the way “he went about things.”
In the recent Emerging tournament in Australia, at the end of the first day’s play against Australia, Rahane was not out on 71. Rahane had fielded the whole day and opened the batting once the opposition had been bowled out. After walking off the field to applause from his coach, Ajinkya politely asked the coach if he could still have a net session before returning to his hotel.
It showed the devotion of a cricketer who is similar to Darvid in the way he gets the best out of himself.
Rahane is also rated highly by his peers. While chatting amongst the emerging players in Australia, it was evident the respect Rahane has amongst domestic cricketers. A few players asked Rahane if he remembered the last time he got out in domestic cricket.
Even in his twenty20 innings, all the runs were scored by authentic cricket strokes. Ajinkya credits this to his batting technique which is the primary focus of Mumbai cricket. It is imperative the selection committee takes notice of such batting talents in domestic cricket and selects them in correct format. Rahane may have made his mark in twenty20 and 50 over cricket internationally but the success is based on solid four day cricket. Over time Dravid adjusted to 50 over cricket, and the likes of Tendulkar and Kallis have also been successful in twenty20 format.
Having bided his time in the Ranji tropy, the biggest difference is that the players such as Rahane really put a value on their wicket. Rahul Dravid once batted for Karanataka in the Ranji trophy match with a fever but still managed to score a 200 not out. It showed the price Dravid had on his wicket even after playing 10 years of international cricket.
Rahane still strives to improve his record despite having set such a high standard. Rahane achieved another goal last year when he did not get out for a single digit score in Ranji tropy match. Rahane’s march to the top is gathering pace. It is important the selectors let him go at his own pace and don’t change it.
At the end of the day it would be nice to sit in a time machine 15 years from now and make Rahane sit in a time machine and go forward, too.
It is nicely written Gaurav.
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