Ajinkya Rahane Dismisses Question About His Age: ‘I’m Still Young’

Ajinkya Rahane turned 35 last month; after being dropped from the Indian Test team earlier, he made a resounding comeback with stellar domestic performances and prolific IPL 2023.

Ajinkya Rahane recently made a comeback to India’s Test team. (Credits: Instagram)

It has been a good few months for Ajinkya Rahane. He turned 35 last month and after being dropped for the Indian team earlier, he made a resounding comeback with a stellar domestic season as well as a prolific IPL for the Chennai Super Kings. After being released by the Kolkata Knight Riders, Rahane was picked up by MS Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings during the IPL 2023 auction. Initially, he didn't get many opportunities to play, but when he finally did, he showed a transformed version of himself. Rahane was at his best this year in the IPL, his strike rate of 172.49 surpassed his previous best in 2019.

Ajinkya Rahane also had a successful domestic season for Mumbai, and his exceptional performance in the IPL, coupled with injuries to key players KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, paved the way for his return to the Indian side after more than a year. He was selected for India's squad in the WTC final.

India were beaten by Australia in the WTC final, but Ajinkya Rahane was one of the stars with the bat with a superb innings of 89 runs in the first innings, proving that he still has a lot to offer.

Ajinkya Rahane is now vice-captain of the side once again for the Test tour of West Indies. When asked in a press conference about being made the vice-captain at his age, Rahane responded with slight displeasure, saying, “What do you mean by at this age? There's still a lot of cricket left in me.”

Ajinkya Rahane also said that he had a good season in the IPL and has a lot of confidence after scoring runs in domestic cricket. He further stated that he had dedicated a substantial amount of time to improving his fitness over the past year and a half.

Right now, I'm enjoying the kind of cricket I'm playing and not thinking too far ahead. Each and every match is important personally as well as for the team," Ajinkya Rahane said.

Not underestimating West Indies, says Ajinkya Rahane

Although West Indies did not qualify for the ICC World Cup 2023, Ajinkya Rahane is not underestimating them, especially considering the fact that they are formidable opponents on home soil in Test cricket.

“We are not taking West Indies lightly at all. We don't know too much about the outside noise. Their performance at home in Test cricket has been pretty good. Our focus will be to back our strengths and play good cricket,” Ajinkya Rahane added.