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Ajinkya Rahane’s masterstroke as captain helped Yashasvi Jaiswal continue his meteoric rise to international cricket.
Ajinkya Rahane as the West Zone captain in Duleep Trophy 2022, decided to send Yashasvi Jaiswal off the field. (Image: AFP, AP)
The out-of-favour Indian batter, Ajinkya Rahane recalled the infamous incident where he as captain decided to eject the talented Yashasvi Jaiswal from the field during the Duleep Trophy 2022 clash between West Zone and South Zone.
Rahane recalled this incident and admitted that Jaiswal could not have been pleased with his call but opened up on what had gone down during that domestic game. He suggested that as Jaiswal attempted to sledge the opponent, he might have taken things too far. Rahane at that moment was only thinking about what was best for the player and decided to take a drastic call.
“Yes, he might have been upset with me. While you can sledge another player, but you cannot cross the line. I thought at that moment he had unknowingly crossed the line. The incident was such that had I not sent him out, he could have been banned from the next match,” Rahane shared on the Curly Tales podcast on YouTube.
The call taken by Rahane proved to be beneficial for Jaiswal as the match referee had told the skipper that he was going to give the youngster a four-match ban which would have hampered his meteoric rise within the domestic cricket circuit.
“I took this call instinctively to send him out of the pitch and the match referee had told me that he was going to hand Jaiswal a four-match ban. Even the referee did not expect to see such a move but because of that, he didn’t give the ban. He was just given a fine of 15-20 per cent of his match fees and he played the matches after as well,” he commented.
Now Jaiswal is in the national team where he has solidified his spot at the top of the batting order in the Test side. Rahane’s brave call ended up being one that benefited the youngster in his career as he continued his rise onto the international circuit and Jaiswal can certainly be thankful to his fellow Mumbai teammate for helping him continue playing games for his state and then go on to make it to international cricket.