Ajinkya Rahane, the vice-captain of India’s Test cricket team has been traded to Delhi Capitals. According to the announcement made on Thursday Rahane will move from Rajasthan Royals who have secured legspinner Mayank Markande and Rahul Tewatia.
Rahane moves to Delhi
Rahane featured in 100 matches for the Royals between 2011 and 2015 and 2018 and 2019. Last season, he started the season as captain but lost his job midway to Steve Smith. He captained them the franchise in 24 games. He scored an unbeaten 105 against Capitals and ended the season with 393 runs from 14 games. Now Rahane will be playing for Capitals and the trade has been finalized with spinners Rahul Tewatia and Mayank Markande being released in exchange. Interestingly, Markande already had a made a move earlier this month in this transfer window. He had moved to Capitals from Mumbai Indians. Now once again he has been traded to Rajasthan Royals.
Ajinkya Rahane is an important member of the Indian batting lineup, especially in the longer format. Having scored more than 7000 runs across formats for the national team and 3820 runs in 140 IPL games Rahane is going to be a treasure for any team if used effectively.
Delhi welcomes Rahane
The co-owner of Delhi Capitals Parth Jindal expressed his happiness and welcomed Rahane to the franchise. He said that the intention of Delhi since last year was to keep the capped players in the core. With some of them already being their member, Rahane is another entry to the block. “I am also extremely honoured to welcome one of India’s most stellar and consistent batsmen, Ajinkya Rahane, to the DC family. When the franchise underwent a revamp last year, a decision was made to keep Indian players at its core. The result was there for everyone to see, with the likes of Shikhar Dhawan and Ishant Sharma performing brilliantly for us, and complimenting the youth that DC has in Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer and Prithvi Shaw, among others. That thought process has continued for us this time around as well, as is evident in the signing of Ravichandran Ashwin, followed by that of Ajinkya Rahane. I am sure Rahane’s wealth of experience, and familiarity with the conditions will help Delhi Capitals go a long way in IPL 2020.”
