After a duck in the first match against Kings XI Punjab at Gahunje on April 10, Mumbai’s Ajinjya Rahane has been in rollicking form for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL-8. Scores of 47, 46, 62, 76 not out, 74, 18, 16 and an unbeaten 91 tells how valuable he has been at the top of the order.
On Sunday he won his third man-of-the-match award, against the Delhi Daredevils.
Looking to slot in a sixth win, Royals benefited aplenty from Rahane’s broad bat. He could have become the second century-maker in the ongoing league after CSK’s Brendon McCullum.
“No, I was not thinking of a century at all, I just wanted to play my shots. I knew that 190 would be a really good score on this pitch. In Twenty20 it’s all about one or two extra runs, so my intent was to give strike to James Faulkner. Actually during the second time-out we were thinking of 170-175, that was our aim. And we got 15 runs extra. I think our fielding was very good, we saved a few runs and the bowlers bowled well so it was a great team effort.’’
The first batsman to cross the 400-run mark, Rahane said he was disappointed with the shot he played against Mumbai Indians. “I wasn’t thinking of any target. I just wanted to give 100 per cent every game. I was really hurt when I got out in the last game. I couldn’t sleep and the whole night I was thinking about my shot and the way we lost. I was really hurt and wanted to make it count here. I knew that I was batting really well and once I was in, after six-seven overs, I was planning to bat throughout the 20 overs.’’
The Orange Cap is with the stylish Mumbai right-hander (430 runs), but Warner is not far behind with 378 runs.