Ajinkya Rahane

A dressing room full of tattooed arms, gelled hair, peroxide highlights and dabbing twenty-somethings defines the post-Tendulkar era of Indian cricket. Amidst all the glitter and spunk of the youthful Indian dressing room, a quiet young man of short stature was the unlikely outcast.

From the Dombivli suburb of Mumbai, Ajinkya Rahane was born to middle-class parents, who fully supported his passion for cricket. Due to lack of resources, Rahane had his initiation on a matted wicket in Dombivli, and started to to train with Pravin Amre at the age of 17. Rahane, the squeaky clean kid, took to cricket as if it were a religion and rose through the ranks of junior cricket and into the Ranji fold. In Ranji Trophy too, he excelled and, plundering 1089 runs in his second season and started to knock on the selectors' doors. However, the great Indian batting order had no space for the young cricketer, and Rahane continued to cruise through Ranji seasons, rupturing old records and churning out centuries day in and day out.

Rahane's came out on top in his first encounter with international bowlers, easing his way to a 172 in a Duleep Trophy encounter against the likes of England internationals like Liam Plunkett and Graham Onions. Rahane then delivered a critical performance of undeniable prowess when he hammered two hundreds in the emerging players' tournament in Australia, proving his worth in adverse conditions, and reminded observers of the game of another teen-aged Mumbaikar, with a similarly punchy technique, who had taken a special liking to Australian pitches in 1992...