Rahane keeps it real with Sarfaraz, says his time will come

Tribune News Service

Vinayak Padmadeo

New Delhi, January 16

Former India captain Ajinkya Rahane is a soft-spoken man, and someone who knows how to deal with selection heartbreaks. On the path to rediscovering his true self after being dropped from the Test team last year despite leading India to a sensational series win against Australia in 2021, the Mumbai skipper has seen and done it all.

Seeing Sarfaraz Khan also going through disappointment after he wasn’t picked in the latest team selection, Rahane has some wise words for the prolific batter. “My message to him is very simple. Just keep doing what he has been doing. There are things you cannot control as a player so you should not focus on that. It is all about focusing on things that you can control as a player,” Rahane told The Tribune on the eve of their Ranji Trophy match against Delhi.

There has been a lot of buzz around the 25-year-old Khan, who has amassed 3,380 runs in only 36 First-Class matches with a staggering average of 88.47, and there was speculation that he could make the team for the upcoming Test series against Australia. However, the selectors chose to go with Suryakumar Yadav.

From his own personal experiences over the years, Rahane wants Khan to wait for his chances. “He has been doing well for us. In the last two-three seasons he has been scoring consistently. He msut keep scoring runs, other things will happen automatically,” he added.

Rahane is known to give freedom to youngsters to express their game. At the same time, he does not want them to break rules. “As a captain, I try to give them that space to express their talent, back them and support them when needed. Obviously, we do not want to break any rules. It is about respecting our opponents, respecting the game,” he explained his leadership philosophy.

“There are incidents that can happen on the field and it is natural. It is all about getting that control and guys in our team know what I expect of them. For me attitude, and work ethics matters the most,” he added.

Rahane’s team currently has 23 points and is second behind Saurashtra in Elite Group B table. The team has scored 2,788 runs in the five matches, the most in the group.