Ajinkya Rahane is going through a tough phase as far as cricket is concerned. His willow has suddenly stopped scoring runs and this was the reason behind him being dropped from the Test squad of Team India. But, KKR bought in this year’s mega-auction. He has been working really hard in the KKR practice sessions and KKR chief mentor feels there is still 5 to 10 years of cricket left in Rahane.
Ajinkya Rahane will be looking to get off the mark with bang-on performance for his franchise in IPL 2022. He has played for a number of franchises in the cash-rich league including Rajasthan Royals, Pune Super Giants, Delhi Capitals. As far as Rahane’s IPL career is concerned, he has mustered 3941 runs in 141 IPL games with the help of 18 fifties and two centuries.
Ajinkya Rahane has still lot of cricket left in him, says KKR chief mentor
In an exclusive interaction, KKR chief mentor David Hussey said that he doesn’t care what people say about Ajinkya Rahane. As per him, the Indian batsman still has 5 to 10 years left in him to contribute with the bat. He even added that this is going to go a very good season for the Indian middle-order batsman.
“Rahane is a class player. He’s been a class player for over a decade for Indian cricket; he’s dominated for the Rajasthan Royals. I think he’s got at least 5 to 10 years of international cricket left in him. He’s a class player. He might not have scored the runs he wants to recently, but the way he is training and the way he works on his game, he’s going to score his runs, he’s going to dominate in the IPL,” Hussey said in the presser.
Hussey feels that Rahane is a very well-versed leader, who will have a big role in guiding the young talent in Kolkata Knight Riders.
“But also, he’s a leader amongst the group as well. So not just on-field performances, but off-field, helping all the youngsters sort of gel. He’s just a quality human being and I am happy that he’s part of our team,” he added.
The former Aussie cricketer was also asked to name the opening pair of KKR for the first game against CSK. To which, he replied that Sam Billings and Venkateshwar Iyer might get a go in the tournament opener from Kolkata Knight Riders.
“All of them, we can have anyone that opens the batting in T20 cricket. Sam’s done it before for England and in his previous teams. Venkatesh Iyer, I am hoping he opens the batting because he set the IPL alight and he was the big catalyst the way we turned around our season after the pause of last year’s IPL,” Hussey said.
“Not only he is a class player but a class human, he always plays for the team and I am just so happy that he is with us for a very long time,” he added.
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