Ajinkya Rahane Makes Franchises Regret Their Decision

Ajinkya Rahane is not taking a break in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy; after the 96 in the pre-quarterfinal, he scored a winning half-century again in the quarter-finals. In the season, he has scored four outstanding half-centuries, including a match-winning 84 off 45 balls in the quarter-finals. Rahane smashed ten boundaries and scored three massive six in these critical innings. The inning was crucial and unique as they came under pressure when the team was chasing the mighty target of 222 runs against Vidarbha. 

High Scoring Quarter-Finals

In the first innings, Vidarbha scored 221 with performances from Atharva Taide (66) and Apoorv Wankhade (51), and in the end, Shubham Dube played a quick innings of 43 out of 19 balls, hitting three boundaries and three sixes with a sky-high strike rate 226.32. When Mumbai's openers came to bat, a mighty target was before them. Prithvi Shaw scored a quick-fire 49 of 26 balls, and Ajinkya Rahane scored 84 runs off 45 balls with a 186 strike rate; both players contributed to an 83-run partnership for the wicket; in the end, Shivam Dubey, with 37 off 22, finished the chase. 

Petition to change the definition of 'consistency' to Ajinkya Rahane! 👏#SMAT2024 pic.twitter.com/gxrPWM5SLO

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) December 11, 2024

Earlier in the tournament, in the round of 16, which is the pre-quarterfinal, Ajinkya scored 95 runs from 54 balls against Andhra Pradesh. This knock was crucial as the team was chasing the mighty target of 229. This season, he has scored four half-centuries in seven matches for 334 runs with an average of 56.

Dry Auction for Rahane

In the recently happened auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, ironically, no franchise was interested in buying them except KKR, who got him at a base price of 1.5 crores; what is even more interesting is that he was purchased in the accelerated part of the auction which happens in the last part of the auction and now since the auction, he has smashed four half centuries, if he would have a smash these performances just a month before he would have been bought in at least 4x-5x price. 

KKR’s Excitement

After his performance in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Kolkata Knight Rider is very excited about his performance. There is no captain right now in the KKR after the departure of title-winning Shreyas Iyer, who decided to get released from the franchise. Now, there is a discussion going on in the franchise about the new captain. The leading contenders in this race are Venkatesh Iyer and Ajinkya Rahane; both players helped their teams reach the semi-finals on the same day. It will be interesting to see who is going to become the captain. Ajinkya Rahane has a better chance since he has captainship experience with the Rajasthan royals. According to a source, Ajinkya Rahane is leading the race, and he will most likely become the KKR's new captain.

Just two ‘chill guys’ after their match-winning QF performances! 🤝 pic.twitter.com/6pXsUbrGWc

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) December 11, 2024

On the one hand, KKR will be happy that they bought Ajinkya Rahane at a very low price just before, when he was in such good form, whereas the other team must now regret their decision not to bid for him.

Also read: November ICC Players of the Month: Haris Rauf and Danni Wyatt-Hodge