Ajinkya Rahane announced his retirement from international cricket and all formats of the game with immediate effect on Thursday. Rahane's emotional statement on social media video on Thursday is the end of a 12-year international career that started in 2011 and ended in 2023 and is also a career in domestic and franchise cricket— which represents two decades of dedication to the sport.
Rahane was technically sound and a reliable middle-order player for India and he was effective all over the world. He played 85 tests, 90 ODIs and 20 T20Is for India and made his last international match in a test match in West Indies in July 2023. He had 5077 Test runs on average 38.46 with 12 centuries, 2,962 ODI runs on average 35.26 with three hundred and 375 T20I runs. He also captained India in six Test matches and led the team to four wins and two draws.
Rahane made one of the most crucial career decisions in Australia in 2020-21. When regular skipper Virat Kohli went home for the birth of his first child as well as India's demoralising collapse to 36 all out in Adelaide, Rahane made a miraculous comeback. He galvanized the team with a century at MCG and took a depleted team to a great 2-1 series victory at Gabba. His overseas credentials were still strong; of his 51 away Tests he had a solid average of 39.43 and he had some memorable centuries in testing conditions in Wellington, Lord's, Melbourne, Kingston and Colombo.
Rahane was also involved in domestic and franchise life beyond his international days. His last game in the Indian Premier League (IPL) was for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), for the last two years he was Captain. Now that he is out KKR will have to find a new leader after the team’s eighth place in 2025 and seventh place in 2026.
As he reflected on his journey from being a boy commuting from Dombivli to practice to wearing the coveted India cap, Rahane expressed deep gratitude in his retirement speech:
Every day, every innings, every chance I got to bat, my dream was always to wear the India cap. I lived by one simple rule: Always put my country and my team before myself... My time is over as an Indian cricketer but my work at the game is not. I want to be there to help the next generation, share the values that the sport has taught me and give back to the game that has given me everything.
