Ajinkya Rahane to play for Leicestershire after India's Test series against West Indies
Senior Indian player Ajinkya Rahane is reportedly joining Leicestershire County Cricket Club (CCC) after the conclusion of India's Test series against the West Indies next month.
Injury to middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer paved the way for Rahane's comeback to India's red-ball cricket plans as he was picked in the 15-member squad for the World Test Championship final.
Rahane's 89 and 46 with the bat were the only positives in India's overwhelming 209-run defeat against Australia in the WTC final, which concluded last week at The Oval.
The 35-year-old had penned a deal with Leicestershire CCC earlier in January, where he was expected to play eight first-class (county) matches and the complete Royal London Cup (England's domestic 50-over tournament) from June to September.
However, those plans changed once he was included in India's WTC final squad. This will be the second County stint for Rahane after he played for Hampshire during the 2019 season.
"Ajinkya, after the two Tests in West Indies (which is supposed to end on July 24), is supposed to fly directly to England and join Leicestershire for the remainder of the season," a BCCI source, close to the development told news agency PTI.
"He will play Royal London Cup in August and a possible four County games in September as he is unlikely to be a part of white-ball scheme of things," the source added.
Rahane became the third Indian player to record a century on County debut when he scored 119 off 197 balls against Nottinghamshire. The other two players are Murali Vijay (100 for Essex vs Nottinghamshire in 2018) and Piyush Chawla (112 for Somerset vs Middlesex in 2013).
Ajinkya Rahane earned his Test spot with domestic performances
Ajinkya Rahane completed 5000 Test runs during the WTC final and became the 13th Indian batter of all-time to achieve the milestone. The former India Test vice-captain has scored 5066 runs in 83 matches at an average of 38.96 with the help of 26 half-centuries and 12 centuries.
Rahane was dropped from India's Test squad in February last year owing to a lack of runs. However, he put hard yards in domestic cricket by leaps and bounds to find his way back to international cricket.
Rahane scored 250 runs at 62.50 in the Duleep Trophy 2022 for West Zone followed by a sublime show in the Ranji Trophy 2023 (634 runs at 57.63) for Mumbai.