Ajinkya Rahane hits century for Hampshire on County debut
Ajinkya Rahane scored a brilliant 119 on his County debut for Hampshire against Nottinghamshire in the County Championship before the former declared at 367/5. In doing so, Rahane became the third Indian after Piyush Chawla and Murali Vijay to score a century on their county debuts in England.
Ajinkya Rahane had a successful outing in the Indian Premier League last month as he scored a total of 393 runs in 14 matches, which also included a century against Kings XI Punjab. However, the Mumbai-born batsman was not considered for Indiaās World Cup squad and opted to make the most of his time by playing some County cricket in England.
The Indian Test vice-captain made an instant impact on his English County debut, as he scored a brilliant hundred for Hampshire against Nottinghamshire in a Division One game on Wednesday. Rahane, who managed to score just 10 runs in the first innings, kept his calm to score a hard-fought 119 off 260 balls, which included 14 boundaries as he put up a 257-run stand for the third wicket with Sam Northeast on the third day. The Indian batsman came to bat in the fifth over of the second innings but was later dismissed by off-spinner Matthew Carter just before the Tea Break in the 70th over.
In scoring his 30th first-class century, Rahane became the third Indian to score a hundred on county debut after Piyush Chawla (Sussex) and Murali Vijay (Essex) did so earlier in the championship. Apart from Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravichandran Ashwin will also be playing in the Division One of the Championship for Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire in the coming weeks.