The experienced Mumbai batter has been the surprise top scorer in this year’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy
MUMBAI: After spinners Tanush Kotian and Atharva Ankolekar’s thrifty bowling kept Baroda batters restricted to 158/7, Ajinkya Rahane’s blazing 98 (56b, 11×4, 5×6) made short work of the target to take Mumbai to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final with six wickets in hand on Friday in Bengaluru.
Mumbai’s Ajinkya Rahane celebrates his half-century during the semi-final against Baroda. (PTI)
In a field of India’s most destructive T20 batters from Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Shreyas Iyer and Shivam Dube, Rahane’s classy strokeplay overshadowed them all. That’s how much impact Rahane has had in the tournament, now leading the charts with most runs (432) scored at a razor-sharp strike rate of 169.
One may be tempted to say that this is Rahane 2.0 to use it postpositively. But there have been so many false dawns in Rahane’s career, most evident from his underwhelming Test batting average of 38.46, that one may refrain from going overboard. Rahane could have achieved so much more across formats. Perhaps he knows it too.
What his late surge in the T20 format goes to show is that once Rahane frees himself from the fear of failure, he can unlock a more confident batting version of himself which does not show up enough.
In the semi-final, all Mumbai had to do was to guard against the spongy bounce that was on offer from the playing surface. Rahane signaled his intent with two early shots 0— first meeting left-armer Lukman Meriwala’s bouncer on the front foot and depositing it to the deep mid-wicket stands, then standing tall and punching him off the back-foot past covers. Then he saw off the Hardik threat, before unleashing a range of free-flowing classical strokes.
There is nothing to suggest from Rahane’s T20 (IPL and T20I) record — 6,717 runs, SR 123 – that he would have days like these. But he’s had many of them in the tournament. In fact, go back to his 63-ball hundred in IPL 2019 for Rajasthan Royals and he has more strokes too. Days after having captainship taken away, he had unleashed a range of 360-degree play, he would otherwise not employ.
Rahane’s often had to remind himself to break out from his self-imposed shackles. Something Chennai Super Kings managed to do by giving him the license to bat freely at the top in 2023. Delivering 326 season runs at a career best SR of 172, Rahane proved to be the one of the finest bargains for his ₹50 lakh price tag.
CSK head coach Stephen Fleming spoke of ‘getting rid of the tag of being the guy you bat around with’ to bring out Rahane’s best. “Once that tag was gone, I saw a guy who was in magnificent form,” Fleming said.
True to his career trajectory, Rahane couldn’t keep up the same intent in IPL 2024. That’s also why there weren’t too many takers for him in this year’s auction, until Kolkata Knight Riders picked him up at his ₹1.5 crore base price. If he keeps form, the 36-year-old is well on course to have another year of outperforming his salary.
“I am really happy with the way I am batting at the moment. The way the T20 format is moving forward, you have to capitalise in the first six overs,” he said at the presentation. “Once I was asked to open by the team management, it was all about playing with that intent.”
Madhya Pradesh (152/3) beat Delhi (146/5) by seven wickets in the other semi-final. The final will be held on Sunday.
