Veteran batter Ajinkya Rahane, who made his comeback to the Test team in the previous WTC final, endured failures on the tour of West Indies in July 2023 and then was sidelined from the squad.
Despite the setbacks, the fire is still alive in Rahane to make the national come back. The 85-Test veteran is currently leading Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy and it shows his commitment to the game.
“I’m more experienced but still feel young. I’m fit enough to compete at the highest level. I am passionate and love this game. There is hunger to do well. I never get satisfied with my game and don’t take things for granted. The fire is still burning inside me to play at the highest level. I feel there’s more cricket left in me," Rahane said while speaking to The Indian Express.
Rahane’s focus was always on playing cricket, but now he has realized that having a strong PR team and staying in the news are also important.
“I was always shy; now I have opened up. My focus has been to play cricket and go home. Nobody told me that going ahead, certain things will be needed. Today also, sometimes I feel ki bus cricket khelo, ghar jao. Now I am told I need to speak up and talk about my hard work. People say you need to be in the news … I don’t have a PR team; my only PR is my cricket. I have now realised that staying in the news is important. Otherwise, people think that I’m out of the circle," he stated.
Rahane was India’s best batter in the WTC 2023 final, returning with scores of 89 and 46 across two innings. However, his failure on the tour of West Indies saw him falling out of selection reckoning again.
The new selection committee, led by former India pacer Agarkar, decided to move on to the next generation of players.
Rahane was left disappointed by the selection snub as he felt his run would include until the 2023-24 tour of South Africa.
"When I was dropped a few years ago, I made runs and was picked for the World Test Championship final and then was dropped again. But what is in my control? To play. I did well in domestic cricket and in the IPL, and was called again. Whenever an experienced player makes a comeback, one knows that he will get 2-3 series. I knew that South Africa was a challenging series and I was expecting a call, but I wasn't picked. I felt bad because I have been serving for so long," he said.
The 36-year-old also claimed that while he was ready to have a one-on-one conversation, none of the selectors were willing to talk.
"I'm not the person who will go and ask why I'm being dropped. There was no communication. Many said 'go and talk' but one can only talk when the other person is ready to talk. If he is not ready, there is no point fighting. I wanted to talk one on one. I never messaged. I felt odd when I was dropped after the WTC final because I had worked hard for it. I thought I would be there for the next series. There is no point cribbing. I can only do what is in my hands. There is a belief that I will make a comeback," he remarked.
