Ajinkya Rahane Pulls Out From County Stint To Take Break From Cricket After Hectic Schedule

The 35-year-old Rahane was supposed to join the county club in June but his arrival was pushed back due to increased international commitments as he flew to England right after the IPL for the World Test Championship final, before heading on India’s Test tour of the West Indies earlier this month.

Rahane made his comeback to the national set up for the first time since January 2022. While he impressed in the WTC final with scores of 89 and 46, the middle-order batter registered scores of 3 and 8 in the two innings he got to bat in the two Tests in West Indies.

Now, the county side Leicestershire has annouced that the senior Indian batter has expressed his desire to take a break from cricket during the months of August and September to spend time with family, meaning he will not feature for club as planned.

“Firstly, we are fully understanding of Ajinkya’s situation. He has experienced a hectic schedule in recent months, both in India and travelling with the national team, and we accept his wishes to recover and spend some time with his family,” Director of Cricket Claude Henderson said in a statement issued by the club.

“We have been in constant communication with Ajinkya and accept how situations can change quickly in cricket. He is extremely grateful for our understanding and still hopes to play for Leicestershire one day.”

The county side has also announced that Australian Peter Handscomb will replace Rahane as he extended his stay with the Foxes to feature in next month’s Metro Bank One Day Cup.

“Thankfully, we had planned for a situation like this, and we are delighted Peter is staying on with the team. He brings many qualities alongside his batting and wicketkeeping, including strong leadership, which is a massive help to Lewis (Hill) and the rest of the guys in our changing room,” Henderson said.

India’s next Test assignment will be the tour to South Africa for a two-match series at the end of the year followed by a home five-match series against England, and we see more changes to the side after a few new faces were blooded into the squad.

Cheteshwar Pujara was dropped during the West Indies tour. Rahane is believed to be the next senior player that may be pushed out of the side with many youngsters getting a chance to claim the number three to five slots.

(With PTI inputs)