Ajinkya Rahane hit a hundred on return to Ranji Trophy cricket as he led Mumbai’s fightback against Saurashtra on Day 1 of their Group D opener at the Sardar Vallabhai Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad on Thursday, February 17. Rahane took his time and got to his 36th first-class hundred in 212 balls for Mumbai.
Rahane got to 99 with a big six against left-arm spanner Dharmandrasinh Jadeja. When he got to the 3-figure score with a single, his batting partner Sarfaraz Khan also punched his air in delight. It was tough conditions on a hot day but Rahane used all his experience to counter the Saurashtra bowling threat.
Rahane hit 14 boundaries and 2 sixes as he was involved in a 150-plus stand with Sarfaraz, who also got to a hundred in 191 balls, hitting 2 sixes and 11 boundaries.
It was an important knock for Mumbai as the former champions were reeling at 44/3 after losing captain Prithvi Shaw (1), Akash Gomel (8) and Sachin Yadav (19) inside the first 13 overs. However, Rahane and Sarfaraz mixed caution with delightful strokeplay to put the pressure back on Saurashtra, who were being led by Jaydev Unadkat.
Ajinkya Rahane was under considerable pressure as his spot in the Indian Test team was in danger after a string of poor scores. The senior batter had scored just 136 runs in 6 innings in India’s 2-1 defeat in a Test series in South Africa earlier this year.
Another struggling India veteran, Cheteshwar Pujara, who is playing against Rahane in this match, will also look to get a big knock in the game to ensure the national selectors retain him for the series against Sri Lanka. With new ball bowlers Jaydev Unadkat and Chetan Sakariya operating well, Mumbai found themselves in trouble early on, losing openers Aakarshit Gomel (8) and Prithvi Shaw (1) with just 22 runs on the board.
First-change Chirag Jani had Sachin Yadav trapped in front of the wicket as Mumbai slipped to 44 for three. However, Saurashtra failed to make any more inroads after that as Rahane and Khan added 219 runs for the fourth wicket to put their side in a comfortable position at stumps.
Rahane took his time before starting to play freely and got to his 36th first-class hundred in 212 balls. The former India Test vice-captain got to 99 with a big six against left-arm spinner Dharmandrasinh Jadeja, before getting to the three-figure mark with a single.
Rahane’s 479 Test runs in 2021 came at an average of 20.82, leading to his sacking from the vice-captain’s post ahead of the tour of South Africa.
