• Home
  • Who Said What
  • My Goal Is To Play 100 Tests Ajinkya Rahane Still Hopeful Of India Comeback

'My Goal Is To Play 100 Tests..', Ajinkya Rahane Still Hopeful Of India Comeback

image-lrfu5e71Ajinkya Rahane [X.com]

Ajinkya Rahane's second sacking from India's Test squad in two years may be considered a sign of his declining prospects in Indian cricket. However, the veteran middle-order batter still feels motivated to represent the country and perform. 

Rahane, who was dropped after the Test series against West Indies in July following a surprise comeback in the World Test Championship (WTC) versus Australia, where he produced scores of 89 and 46, says donning his 100th Test cap and winning the Ranji Trophy for Mumbai remains two major driving forces. 

The 35-year-old has since lost his place to middle-order incumbents Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul, with Shubman Gill also moving to No.3 in an in-transition Test set-up. But Rahane says the fire continues to brew hard within, and he believes the talks of his sunset are premature.


'My goal is to play 100 Tests'- Ajinkya Rahane

"My goal is to secure both the Ranji Trophy and the bigger objective of playing in 100 Test matches," Rahane told the reporters after Mumbai's win over Andhra in their second-round Ranji Trophy fixture.  

"I'm focused on performing well for Mumbai and taking each game one step at a time." 

Rahane is a distance away from his 100th Test cap, which his longstanding middle-order friends and fellow giants of Indian cricket, Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli, managed to accomplish. The out-of-favour veteran has played 85 Tests with 5,077 runs at a dipping average of 38.46 and 12 hundreds next to his name. 

The elegant right-hander was initially considered set to be retained with the side for the two-match Test series in South Africa. However, with the return of Iyer and Rahul moving down as the fresh wicketkeeper-batter, the selectors dropped the comeback man after just three Tests. 

Rahane's stocks fell because of his errors and a prolonged dip in consistency. Until the close of 2019, he was averaging an acceptable 43.74 from his first 63 Tests and 105 innings as India's key No.5 batter. However, from the start of the pandemic, his average dipped to a woeful 25.39 over 22 Tests with just a solitary ton.