Ajinkya Rahane didn’t hold himself back when he said that other people had taken credit for his work and decisions during the historic Border-Gavaskar 2020/21 victory in Australia.
In a recent interview with senior journalist Boria Majumdar on his YouTube show ‘Backstage with Boria’, Ajinkya Rahane was seen in a rare no-holds-barred opening up when he cryptically slammed those who had taken the credits for his good work in that historic series where he led India in the last three Tests winning two of them after skipper Virat Kohli had left on a pre-planned leave following the embarrassing loss in the first Test in Adelaide.
Leading from the front, Ajinkya Rahane scored a magnificent century in Melbourne, and smartly marshalled his troops in a draw in Sydney and an unbelievable win at Australia’s fortress, Gabba.
Ajinkya Rahane said that though it’s not in his nature to demand credit and that the series win was special for him, he added that some people – he didn’t clear whether it was players or management – were taking credit for the decisions he had made in the field and in the dressing room.
“I know what I did there. I don’t need to say this to anybody. And that’s not my nature that I will go and take credit. Yes, there were a few things, for which I made the decisions on the field and dressing room but somebody else took the credit. What was important for me was that we won the series and that was a historical series. For me, that was really special,” Ajinkya Rahane said.
“The reactions that came later, or the credit that was taken, or whatever was spoken or emerged on the media… things like ‘We did this. It was our decision. It was our call,’. It’s what they had to say but from my end, I knew what decisions I took. We also spoke to the management but inside me, I would laugh knowing the modestly which I had shown and what followed,” he added.
About his own dip in form – since the start of 2021, the former vice-captain averages 20 in 15 Tests with 3 fifty-plus scores and no century – Ajinkya Rahane asserted that people who know the game will talk “sensibly”, and for rest, he’d just offer his smile.
“I just smile when people says my career is finished, people who know the sport don’t talk like that – everyone knows what happened in Australia, even before it, my contribution in red ball – people who love the sport will talk sensibly,” the 33-year-old said.
Ajinkya Rahane is set to feature in the Ranji Trophy 2022 for Mumbai. This will give him an opportunity to return to his best ahead of the Sri Lanka Test series.
