Thread by @KShriniwasRao

The more I listen to discussions around Ajinkya Rahane ahead of the Wankhede Test, the more I realize these discussions eventually boil down to just two questions:
* Will Ajinkya Rahane play?
* Should Ajinkya Rahane play?
So, here’s a #thread on the man… (1/25)

Let’s deal with the first question: Will Ajinkya Rahane play? -->> I don’t see him in the XI.

Reason? 1) Virat is back; 2) Shreyas can’t be dropped; 3) Shubhman did well; 4) Mayank can’t be forced to make way for a makeshift opener. (2/25)

Any other option? Make Rahane himself open? But is that a solution? Tomorrow, when Rohit and Rahul come back what happens? Anyways, this is stretching a bit too much. So, getting to the point... If Rahane has to play, decision will have to defy logic. (3/25)

Rest of the XI for this Wankhede Test retains itself unless Virat decides to go a bowler short. But he won’t do that because no part-time options. Grass has gone off the track and he needs three spinners. (4/25)

But wait, does Rahane really need to be in the XI right now? In that lies the answer to the second question: “Should he play?” Honestly, what he needs right now is a break. Perhaps some FC cricket? (5/25)

From the quintessential Mumbai school of batting, Rahane is no small name. One has to only look back at his 2007 Ranji season for Mumbai, the Duleep that year and his next four years in FC cricket until his Test debut in 2013. (6/25)

Mind you, his idea was never to set fields on fire, the way they think they are born to do these days. He was always the man who went about quietly getting the job done. That’s what his USP would always remain. (7/25)

I still remember those days 15 yrs ago – a shy boy who didn’t spend a second more than necessary where he needn’t have been. Disciplined. Loved his vada pav then, loves it now. Never felt the need to tattoo. (8/25)

“Hi Ajinkya”, I remember wishing him every time I saw him. “Hello,” he’d reply with that shy teenage smile, in that thick accent. Always mindful of the fact cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties and humility was important. (9/25)

Ajinkya rightly made his mark when opportunity beckoned. Remember those fifties in Durban, the hundred at Basin Reserve, 103 Lord’s, 147 MCG, 126 at P Sara, 108* Sabina Park, 132 SSC, 102 Antigua – it all seemed going well. (10/25)

Humility remained an endearing feature. Even as his stature grew, basics never faded. “Ajju, what do have to say about South Africa series?” Ajju: “Just stick to basics. Know your strengths & weaknesses”. (11/25)

That would be the answer every single time. Not like a Kohli or Rohit – that natural flair, that aggression or that humour (in each's case). Always on the guard, always reminding himself that he should mind himself, Ajinkya would be like: “Just stick to basics”. (12/25)

At times, journalists would cajole him: “Say something more. Express yourself better. How long will you just repeat this “stick to the basics”. But he maintained just that. That happily satisfied minimalist. (13/25)

While that was a good trait, question was – would it be enough for him to build an appetite required at the highest level? “When will he move from vada pav to cheeseburger”, started becoming a standing joke. (14/25)

Ajinkya was never the flashy kind, just like his batting guru Pravin Amre. ‘Mumbai school of batting – khadoos (stubborn)’ and ‘Maharashtrian school of manners – humble, respectful’. (15/25)

There’s a well-aged Maharashtrian proverb one must bear in mind: “Jasa dista tasa nasta (things are not always the way you see them)”. Ajju would learn this the hard way. Humility doesn’t necessarily get reciprocated. (16/25)

102, 103, 108, 112, 118 – Is that his appetite? He clearly doesn’t have the hunger for big ones – the voices began to rise. They had been around since 2018. In 2020, the MCG hundred temporarily put them to rest. But how long? (17/25)

The last few times we saw Ajju really angry were a) Johannesburg 2018 --with the bat in hand and a point to prove. b) MCG 2020 -- because his teammate was reeling under the humiliation of racial abuse. Those were rare glimpses of what Ajinkya could've potentially been (18/25)

That Ajinkya was rare. Every other time, he was his usual self -- standing his ground, not staring back at the bowler, not disturbed by the chatter around him, not bothered if someone would abuse, never the kind to abuse. (19/25)

But sport always demands more. That's why it is cruel. There's little place for goodness. For a batsman with 79 Tests, did an avg of 39.30 augur, especially for someone of Ajju's caliber, for a regular at No.5? He hasn’t even crossed 5k runs. Averages just 35 at home! (20/25)

Questions began reeling and time always takes its toll. Always. 8 yrs & 134 innings later, the very values that made this humble Mumbai boy a household name now stand between him and modern-day cricketing barometers. (21/25)

Ajinkya is still who he always was. It’s perhaps the demands of the game that have undergone a multidimensional change. And his lack of runs isn’t helping either. The boy-turned-man will be forced to take a backseat now. (22/25)

When things don’t go your way, everything looks ugly at some point. That he is seen today as a batsman who can’t play good spin is a misnomer of gigantic proportions. I hope that’s not how people remember him. But then, it'll take a giant leap now to prove them all wrong. (23/25)

Here’s what he told me in an interview after the MCG knock: “I have always believed I belong at the highest level. What people say, or rather how people generally like to talk, has seldom bothered me”. (24/25)

Hopefully, he won’t get bothered by what people are saying now. Get back to his basics, put his head down and do what he does best – spend some time in FC cricket getting back into the ‘zone’. Unfortunately, that’s his only ticket. (25/25)