Cricket: Ajinkya Rahane recalls Rahul Dravid's advice that motivated him
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Rahane shared his interaction with Dravid during a Duleep Trophy final in 2008-09 where he was playing for the West Zone while Dravid was representing the South Zone.
Indian vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane is one of the most crucial players in the team's Test lineup. Despite the absence of some major stars, he led Team India to a crucial win against Australia earlier this year. He, now, recalled the advice he received from former Indian skipper Rahul Dravid that ‘motivated’ and ‘inspired’ him.
Rahane shared his interaction with Dravid during a Duleep Trophy final in 2008-09 where he was playing for the West Zone while Dravid was representing the South Zone.
"I remember in a Duleep Trophy final, we were playing against South Zone in 2008-09 and Rahul Dravid was playing in it in Chennai. I got runs in that game – 165 and 98. Rahul bhai called me up after the game and said, I’ve read about you a lot, you are scoring a lot of runs. As a player, it is very natural that you will start expecting an India call-up. All I would tell you is to keep on doing what you’ve been doing,” Rahane told former India wicketkeeper-batsman Deep Dasgupta in an interview with ESPNCricinfo.
"You keep focussing on that and India call-up will come automatically. Don’t run after it, it will follow you. Getting that advice from someone like Rahul bhai really motivated me a lot. That inspired me a lot. He has seen a lot of ups and downs. I got another thousand runs next seasons and two years after that, I was selected.”
Ajinkya Rahane went on to add that how he was anxious for not getting an India call-up despite his prolific innings in first-class cricket and said that Pravin Amre helped him out.
“The first three or four games in my first season of Ranji Trophy did not go well. People had started to say that I should be dropped and sent back to club cricket but Pravin Amre, who was our coach at that time said that ‘once we have got someone into the side, we should at least give him 7-8 matches before deciding.’
“There used to be seven league matches at that time and my rest of the games went quite well, I scored runs and from then, for the next five seasons, I scored more than 1000 runs every time in First-class Cricket. So yes, after the first two-three years I started thinking that I could get a call-up any day but the more I thought about it, the further it went away,” Rahane said.