Ajinkya Rahane believes he is completely opposite to Virat Kohli in his approach to the game

India’s Ajinkya Rahane is finally getting his due as a regular for the Indian cricket team and the humble Mumbai cricketer feels that his passion for the game right from a young age and the hunger to succeed are the main reasons for his success at the international level. As for his nature, Rahane stated that he is the complete opposite of someone like Virat Kohli who likes to take on the opposition and seems to raise his game when being cornered.

Both batsmen have been on the rise with their different approaches with Kohli already being counted amongst the legends of the game, whereas Rahane is being seen as a solid batsman who prefers to stay away from the limelight. According to Rahane, what is vital is that every player stays true to their nature in order to bring out the best of their abilities.

“Virat (Kohli) gets motivated by being aggressive, he might talk back to the bowlers. It helps him,” Rahane said. “I am the opposite. It helps me to keep calm or just stare at them to motivate myself. But if someone says something to me, then definitely I feel more motivated; it becomes a challenge.

“Basically, they want a reaction. They check if I have a reaction to what they say. Their intention is to disturb my mind, my focus. I don’t react to them. I only look at them, stare or smile at them sometimes. Everyone has a different way of dealing with it.”

Kohli and Dhoni are different people: Rahane

Rahane said that Kohli has carried his aggressive nature as a cricketer into his captaincy as well, but believes that MS Dhoni has been an equally effective skipper with his calm and composed nature of dealing with the pressure.

“Their ways are different but their intention is the same — to win games for Team India. They are both different people. Dhoni Bhai is quiet and calm under pressure, Kohli is more expressive. Dhoni is calm even off the field. As a captain, you have to lead from the front, and both Dhoni and Kohli do that,” Rahane said.

Recalling his younger days when he would catch the local trains in Mumbai to head for practice, Rahane said that the experience was an education in itself that has helped him develop as a cricketer, and more importantly as a person, over the years.

“My day began at 5.30 am. I got on to the train at around 6 am, travelling from Dombivali to CST (Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) and then to Azad Maidan. I spent around two to three hours, and sometimes even more, just travelling. I was very passionate but I never thought about what I wanted to do, never planned anything. Obviously, I had goals, I wanted to represent the country,” he said.

“Being passionate is important, it takes you places. People (on the train) helped me a lot. They made a place for me to sit, keep my bag. Sometimes while travelling early in the morning, I would doze off before my stop. People would wake me up and tell me that we had arrived at the CST station. A lot of people have supported me,” he added.