Deodhar Trophy: Ajinkya Rahane celebrates 3 runs short of a century
In a comical event this afternoon in the Deodhar Trophy final between India B and India C, Ajinkya Rahane celebrated his century prematurely when he was batting at 97.
Batting on 96, Rahane took a single of Mayank Markande's bowling and pointed towards the dressing room as he celebrated his century in a subtle way. Although everyone in the ground believed that the Mumbai batsman had got his century, thanks to the scoreboard at the venue, Suresh Raina reminded Rahane from the dressing room that he had to score 3 more runs to achieve the milestone.
Rahane apologized immediately and got his century a few balls later. It was a match-winning knock as India C managed to scrape a victory despite India B's Shreyas Iyer scoring a magnificent 148. Rahane was the man of the match for his excellent 144 runs which helped his side clinch the trophy.
Rahane has been very impressive in the domestic 50-over competitions this season as he completed a double by winning the Vijay Hazare trophy with Mumbai and Deodhar Trophy with India C. He formed a potent top order at Mumbai with Prithvi Shaw and Shreyas Iyer which saw them scorning plenty of runs which helped them clinch the trophy.
Ajinkya Rahane is out of the picture for the ICC World Cup scheduled next year as he has failed in the Blue jersey in past tournaments. However, with the recent performances for Mumbai and India C, the selectors could have second thoughts about him. Rahane is suited to the middle-order and if the current selections fail, the selectors can go back to the Mumbai player.
With the Ranji Trophy set to start very soon, all eyes would be on the Indian players who are in the fray for the World Cup. Unlike previous seasons, the 50-over tournament has been conducted prior to the Ranji Trophy to help the Indian selectors pick the squad for the World Cup. All the players who impressed in these tournaments have got an opportunity for the upcoming tournaments and they will look to perform well to have a chance of making it to the World Cup.