Ajinkya Rahane's Top 5 Knocks In International Cricket

Ajinkya Rahane retired from all forms of cricket [Source: X]

One of India’s finest batters, Ajinkya Rahane, announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on Thursday. The veteran has been out of the team since the WTC final 2023, and eventually, he decided to call it quit on his social media handle, Instagram.

Rahane has been an exceptional servant of the game, and the champion batter has played some outstanding knocks across formats. In this article, we take a look at Rahane’s five best innings at the international level.

5) 61 off 39 balls Vs England (T20I match in 2011)

In 2011, India toured England for a multi-format series, and the Men in Blue played a solitary T20I game against the hosts. The match took place at Old Trafford as India batted first and the entire batting lineup crumbled.

Rahane opened the innings for the Men in Blue, and he was the lone warrior as he took down the English attack and smashed 61 off 39 balls, with a strike rate of 156.41. Interestingly, the opener became the first Indian batter to score a T20I fifty in England. 

While Rahane scored 61, the next-best score was registered by Suresh Raina (33) as India lost the game.

4) 79 off 60 balls Vs South Africa (2015 World Cup)

Rahane witnessed a quiet ODI career, but there is one particular knock that cannot be ignored when talking about his 5 best international innings. It was the 2015 ODI World Cup match against South Africa, and batting first, India were in a solid position, courtesy of a stellar hundred from Shikhar Dhawan and a clinical 46 from Virat Kohli.

However, despite the start, India needed a fiery finish to post a challenging total in front of the South African batters, and it was Rahane who breathed fire against the Proteas attack.

Coming in at number 4, Rahane blasted a quickfire 79 off 60 balls and took India to a comfortable 307/7 on the board. His knock dealt a blow to the South Africans as they lost momentum and the match.

3) Twin Test tons Vs South Africa (2015 Delhi Test)

In 2015, South Africa toured India for a multi-format series, and the two teams played the fourth Test match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi. The surface was a graveyard for the batters, as the pitch was a dustbowl, with all the help for the spinners.

Rahane was an exceptional player of spin bowling, and interestingly, he smashed centuries in both innings of the Delhi Test match. In India’s first innings, the Indian middle-order batter scored a terrific 127 to help India post 334.

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In the second innings, he forged a match-winning partnership alongside Virat Kohli, and he remained unbeaten at 100 as India set a challenging total for the visitors. The 2015 series is also famous because Rahane was the only player from both sides to register a hundred in the Test series.

2) 103 off 154 balls Vs England (2014, Lord's Test)

At the iconic Lord’s Stadium, with a green top in front and a menacing English pace attack, the India vs England Lord’s Test was poised for an English win, but Rahane had some other plans.

While the entire Indian batting unit struggled in the first innings, it was the Mumbaikar who stood tall, and played arguably his finest Test knock.

The ball was nipping around, and England had James Anderson to exploit the conditions, but that didn’t faze Rahane as he displayed exquisite timing, impeccable technique and temperament to register a sublime century (103 off 154 balls).

After Rahane, the next-best Test score was registered by Bhuvneshwar Kumar (36), as all the other Indian batters struggled to play against the English bowlers.

1) 112 off 223 balls Vs Australia (2020, MCG Test)

In terms of sheer Test brilliance and composure, the Lord’s innings stood tall, but if we look at the context of the MCG Test match, Rahane’s stellar ton will go down as one of the greatest knocks under pressure.

In the first Test at Adelaide, India got bundled out for a mere 36 runs and lost the Test match. Their regular skipper, Virat Kohli rushed back to India to attend the birth of his first child, and Rahane replaced him as the Test captain for the series.

After the 36 all-out, India were low on confidence, and a scoreline of 0-4 was already predicted by the Australian experts. However, as Rahane has always done, he silenced the Indian critics, not with his words, but rather with the bat.

Under pressure in the first innings, Rahane played a captain’s knock as he scored a marvellous 112 off 223 balls to hand India an advantage in the game. Eventually, the visitors managed to win the MCG Test match, and they went on to win the series as well.

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