‘His Mind Will be a Lot Freer’: Manjrekar Hopes Rahane to Make the Most of His India Comeback

WTC Final: A couple of years back, the Indian Cricket team pulled off one of the most significant Test victories Down Under, defeating the hosts 2-1 to clinch the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the second time in a row away from home. The architects of this sweet win were a handful of inexperienced youngsters who stepped up in the absence of the senior players. And not to forget their leader, rather, the stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane who pulled off the team after an infamous batting collapse in Adelaide – 36 all-out.

The victory on the Australian shores created a colossal image of Rahane in the Indian Test arena. But unfortunately, he found himself out of the team exactly a year later. Following an unsuccessful South Africa Tour in 2022, he was subsequently dropped from the side post a lean run of form.

But the knack for keeping going pushed Rahane for a strong return. He headed back to domestic cricket and started from scratch. In the Duleep Trophy 2022, he scored 250 runs in five innings, including an unbeaten 207 for West Zone. In the 2023/23 Ranji Trophy, Rahane was Mumbai’s leading run-scorer with 634 runs from seven matches, including a double-century against Hyderabad, and 191 against Assam, at an average of 57.63.

And now that he is back in Team India for the much-anticipated WTC final, former India batter Sanjay Majrekar believes that Rahane has the monkey off his back and can play more freely.

“He (Rahane) was under tremendous pressure the last time when he was playing for India. It’s a tough time when a batter goes into bat, thinking that this could be the last innings of his Test career. That is a difficult place to be in. I don’t think he will be in that place now as he has seen life after Test cricket, almost like a retired cricketer,” Manjrekar told Star Sports.

“Now, he has got the opportunity, I feel his mind will be a lot freer. People might think his IPL form contributed to his selection and return. But he had a good first-class season as well. So, we might see some benefit there. I have been there. I have been dropped from the Indian team. I have got loads of runs at the first-class level but when you come back to Test cricket, you realize that it’s a completely different ball game,” added Manjrekar.

Rahane had scored a match-winning hundred for India at Lord’s back in 2014, and though his Test average in England is currently at 26.03, the WTC final is an opportunity for him to make his second chance count.

“So, Ajinkya Rahane will have a freer mind, but he will have his work cut out as well. Test cricket is a different ball game and he is playing against a top-notch opposition. I have no idea how he is going to bat. There’s some indication that he’s back in form, but it is a completely different scenario,” concluded Manjrekar.