With 224 runs in six innings at an impressive strike rate of 189.83, Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) Ajinkya Rahane has been in sensational form in IPL 2023. He has also won a Player of the Match. But he wasn’t always the first choice for CSK at the auctions, and had it not been for Dhoni’s wisdom the side would have missed on him.
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CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan, speaking to Cricbuzz, has revealed that it was Dhoni’s idea that urged the team management to pick Rahane.
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“‘Nothing like it if you can get him’, MS told me when I asked him, and that is why we bid for Rahane,” Viswanathan recalled.
The reason behind the reluctance to have Rahane is actually rooted in him not having an image of a T20 batter. In all the 14 previous IPL seasons put together, he scored 4074 runs at a pretty average strike rate of 120.7.
Last season, when he played for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), he was made to play seven matches.
Outside the IPL too Rahane’s didn’t fare well in the format. In the recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he could only score 112 runs in eight innings at a strike rate of 117.89.
With this backdrop, Rahane could not get any bidders at the 2023 IPL auctions. So, CSK acquired him at his base price of Rs 50 lakh.
However, it was Dhoni’s words that made the franchise management put faith in Rahane, and they have been rewarded well for that.
CSK have played eight matches, so far, and have managed to win five of them.
On the points table, they are at no. four with 10 points and a net run rate of +0.376.
They face Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Sunday for their next match.
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