Not many would have imagined Ajinkya Rahane to score the fastest half-century of this edition of the Indian Premier League, when the tournament got underway last week.
The odds were never in his favour. After losing captaincy at Rajasthan Royals four years ago and eventually parting ways, Rahane had a rough ride in the world of IPL.
The last season turned hot and cold for the 34-year-old as he failed to cement a place in the Kolkata Knight Riders set-up, scoring 133 runs in seven matches.
But at his backyard - the Wankhede Stadium - on Saturday evening, the Mumbai boy donned the Chennai Super Kings colours and brought up his half-century in just 19 balls.
But until the toss, Rahane did not know that he would be featuring in the playing eleven. With Moeen Ali not keeping well, doors opened for the seasoned campaigner and he grabbed the opportunity.
“Luckily, I had prepared myself very well - mentally and physically. That helped me a lot,” Rahane said.
Being promoted to No.3 after Devon Conway fell early, the pressure was clearly mounting on Rahane. But the classical batter looked calm, composed and not for once did he give an impression that he was featuring in the first game of the season.
“I was playing in Mumbai after a long time... I know this wicket really well. When we were bowling, we got an idea how the wicket was behaving. How fast or slow was it,” Rahane said, adding that the idea was to give the team a steady start, while chasing 158.
“When I walked in, I was telling myself that I should watch the ball and play to the merit of the delivery. I had prepared well, so there were no doubts about that...”
He started off with twos and then released the pressure with a six off Jason Behrendorff in the third delivery of the third over. And even before the Mumbai Indians bowlers could make up a plan for him, Rahane welcomed young Arshad Khan in the next over with a maximum and followed it up with four consecutive boundaries.
Amid deafening cheers from the Chennai Super Kings fans, who had turned up in large numbers, Rahane flexed muscles and forged a steady partnership with Ruturaj Gaikwad.
He bisected the Mumbai Indians’ field-placing perfectly and taking things in his stride, Rahane pulled off a boundary through deep mid-wicket in the third ball of the sixth over, bowled by Piyush Chawla, to bring up his half-century. As he reached the milestone, Rahane, true to his reputation, had a low-key celebration. He just raised his bat in the air and then hugged Gaikwad, before going back to the crease.
Though he failed to go beyond 61 and eventually flogged Chawla’s length ball outside the off to Suryakumar Yadav at long-on, Rahane’s innings on Saturday was an example of what sticking to basics mean for a seasoned cricketer.
Throughout his innings, Rahane did not look out of place even once and ensured that he made the most of the conditions and paced his innings in a calculative manner. That strategy worked.
In the last domestic season, Rahane followed a similar style of play, where he focused on the innings and also ensured that he was not involved in a blockathon. Contrary to the perception, Rahane - while leading Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy - insisted that his players converted ones into twos and tried hitting at least one boundary to keep the momentum going.
In a group league match against Assam in Guwahati, Rahane - while batting with Prithvi Shaw - made sure that the latter ran for twos and did not settle for a single. At the Amingaon Cricket Ground, Rahane would yell, “ Do le, do le…(take two),” to Shaw and force him to go for the second run. While Shaw had lauded Rahane for encouraging him to play freely, Rahane’s approach also spoke volumes about his mindset.
“If you constantly think about the result and the outcome, it automatically adds to the pressure. For me, it is about preparation. I always focus on whether I prepared well ahead of a match, whether I could execute my game plan properly,” Rahane had told Sportstar then.
“If I have been able to do that, then I know that at least, I have handled the basics right and that I am on the right track. Yes, the runs may have not come, but those are by-products, and if I can follow the process right, runs will start flowing.
“People will either praise or criticise you, and that’s part and parcel of a sportsman’s life. You need to keep all those things aside and think about what you need to do and what’s important for you. After the day’s play, I come back to the room, think about my game for about 10-15 minutes and try and assess whether I could follow the things I had planned. If those things are right, results will automatically show…” he had said.
He had a decent domestic season with 634 runs in seven Ranji Trophy games for Mumbai, and soon after Mumbai’s campaign ended in January, Rahane got into the groove and started preparing for the IPL. He did not tweak his style of play and just relied on the ‘process’ and batted for long hours in the nets to get into the groove.
“We had a very good camp for three weeks before the IPL, so in terms of batting, I was doing good. It was about grabbing opportunities,” Rahane said on Saturday.
Having played under Mahendra Singh Dhoni again, Rahane has been able to feel comfortable at CSK and admitted that the ‘environment has helped’ in playing freely and with confidence.
Even Dhoni’s advice has been simple - rely on your natural game and play to your strength.
And Rahane just hopes to follow his captain’s advice and take it one game at a time.
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