Sachin Tendulkar’s advice was to enjoy the moment, recalls Ajinkya Rahane

Making their debut for the National team can be a daunting task for any player and Ajinkya Rahane was no exception to that. Rahane made his debut in the longest format back in 2013 against Australia in Delhi and has since gone on to play another 64 Test matches for India, scoring 4203 runs at an average of 42.88. 

In a conversation with Deep Dasgupta on Cricinfo’s Cricketbaazi, Rahane went down memory lane to recall his first ever cap in the traditional whites. With India down 148/3, Rahane walked into the middle to bat alongside fellow Mumbaikar Sachin Tendulkar, who had some sound advice for the youngster. 

“When I went down to bat, Sachin paaji was on the other side. He told me that ‘as a player, you want to do well on debut, and every game. But you need to forget all of this at this moment. Just enjoy the moment’. He gave me this advice. My debut match was not that great, but it was memorable,” Rahane said, reported HT.

“I didn’t know how to react, I was feeling mixed emotions. It was, obviously, a special moment for me, but I was a bit feeling nervousness and excitement as well,” added Rahane, who scored seven runs in that innings.

Since then Rahane has featured in the Indian side quite frequently and has played a majority of his career (84%.) in the No. 5 position. The right hander, having played a most of his career in the top order till then, explained his he had to make some changes to his game in order to be effective at the highest level of the sport. 

“To bat at the middle-order was a bit challenging. I bat at no. 6 position (no. 5 position, actually), and it was challenging. When you are batting at no. 6 in India, you know the ball gets old, and the fielders are standing backwards.

“When you are someone who has opened all your life, then I definitely needed to make an adjustment. But at the time, how difficult is the situation did not even go through my head at the time. I was just enjoy my batting at the time. I am playing for India and I am going to do it for my country. That was all I had in my mind,” the 32-year-old said.