Ajinkya Rahane judges batsman’s movement from behind brilliantly, reveals Suresh Raina

One of the finest fielders during his time, who redefined India’s fielding alongside Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif, Suresh Raina can claim to be having a clearer understanding of what it takes to be a good fielder. And thus he picked Ajinkya Rahane, India’s Man Friday to gobble whatever that comes the way of second slip, as the best fielder in the current Indian side. 

“Ajinkya Rahane has better catching skills. I always love his positions while fielding. He has a different kind of power. His body can bend when he moves, that is very different from the rest,” Raina told SportScreen. 

“He is a very good slip fielder, he judges the batsman’s movement from behind and anticipates, which is very important as the distance is not much between the slip fielder and batsman. He also practices like that so it makes it easier during matches,” he further added.

Dhoni’s last Test series also turned out to be Raina’s last series for India in white clothing, with him retaining his chances in the limited-overs side sporadically. Injuries played its part in limiting his growth but Raina remained an excellent performer in the Indian Premier League over the years. The former middle-order batsman attributed that the challenges came on his way for him being a middle-order batsman was huge. 

"You know, middle-order isn’t easy, every game you play sometimes you bat for 10-15 overs and sometimes for 30 overs. Our position is different and we’ve to chip in with the ball, we’ve to get 2-3 wickets and we’ve to save 15-20 runs. Middle-order has always been challenging for me, but, I’ve always taken everything positively," he added.