Veteran India batter Ajinkya Rahane has taken the cricketing world by storm with his dazzling exploits in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) season.

Playing for Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Rahane has scored 224 runs from six innings at a remarkable strike rate of 189.83 with two half-centuries.

While Rahane’s performance has been a revelation for CSK, he wasn’t always the first choice for the franchise at the auctions. In fact, Chennai would have missed out on his services had it not been for skipper MS Dhoni’s wisdom.

Speaking to Cricbuzz, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan revealed that it was Dhoni’s idea to rope in Rahane.

“‘Nothing like it if you can get him’, MS told me when I asked him, and that is why we bid for Rahane,” Viswanathan recalled.

The reason behind the reluctance to sign Rahane was his bad reputation as a T20 batter. Before this season, he had a pretty average strike rate of 120.7 in the IPL.

Last season, Rahane featured in only seven games for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), scoring 133 runs at a strike rate of 103.91.

With this backdrop, Rahane failed to find any bidder at the IPL 2023 auctions besides CSK. The Chennai-based franchise roped him in for his base price of INR 50 lakh.

Chennai Super Kings have won five out of their eight matches in the IPL 2023 season so far. They will next face Punjab Kings at Chepauk on April 30.