“It was easy and good money” - Ajinkya Rahane makes shocking BGT 2024-25 claim

Veteran Indian batter Ajinkya Rahane has revealed that he had received an offer to be part of the broadcasting team for the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT). The selection committee had not considered the Mumbai skipper for the tour of Australia despite the batting unit struggling in the preceding 0-3 whitewash against New Zealand at home.

Rahane had led Mumbai to the 2023-24 Ranji Trophy title, and had a prolific campaign with the bat in the process. However, with the Indian team looking to move forward amid the transition, the likes of Sarfaraz Khan, KL Rahul, and Rishabh Pant have largely constituted the middle order.

Since the tour of South Africa in 2021-22, Rahane has only played three Tests. He earned a call-up for the World Test Championship (WTC) final in 2023, amid his brilliant Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign and an injury crisis. The right-handed batter was India's best performer in the clash against Australia at The Oval by some distance, and managed to retain his place for the tour of the West Indies.

But, poor returns in the two-match series led to his exclusion again, and he has not been considered since. There was a case for Rahane to be in the squad for the Border-Gavaskar series, given his experience and form, but the management decided to steer in a different direction.

“Yes (it was tough). I got an offer to become an expert. It was easy and good money but within me, a person is saying I still can (play). Getting picked or not is not in my hands. Down the line, I don’t want a situation where I feel that yeh expert assignment mein baad mein bhi le sakta tha. I could have given one last push,” Rahane said in an interview with the Indian Express.

Rahane was involved in domestic cricket when Team India were battling against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar series. The better had a stellar Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy campaign, where he ended up as the leading run-scorer. He is still among the runs as his ton in the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals against Haryana propelled Mumbai to the semi-finals.

"Everywhere I have gone, they all said: Ajju bhai, aapko team mein hona chahiye" - Ajinkya Rahane

The Indian batters did not have a memorable series Down Under. Australia's pacers had a grip throughout the tour, with sporadic knocks from KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Nitish Kumar Reddy, not helping India from suffering a 1-3 defeat.

Fans and pundits felt that India could have benefitted from having proven old guards like Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane in the mix.

“Be it airport, hotel, security check, ground, county cricket, everywhere I have gone, they all said: Ajju bhai, aapko team mein hona chahiye. It feels nice. It motivates me to give it a try, at least I would have given my best in the last few years of my career,” Rahane added (as per the aforementioned source).

Rahane will be seen in action next leading Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy semi-final clash against Vidarbha from Monday, February 17 onwards.