'Ab kya bahane for Rahane?'- Twitter flooded with questions after Ajinkya Rahane hits double century in Ranji Trophy match

Ajinkya Rahane (Image source: Twitter)

Cricket could be quite cruel at times; one minute you’re an integral part of the team the next you could be thrown into the abyss. Something exactly like this has happened to Ajinkya Rahane. The right-hand batter enjoyed a secured berth in India’s Test team but now he has fallen down the pecking order with little hope of a Test comeback.

The 34-year-old, however, continues to ask questions of the management and knock on the doors of the national Test squad on regular basis. After getting dropped from the Test team, Rahane turned to domestic cricket in order to hone his craft further. After months of struggle, the right-hand batter seems to have gotten rid of the flaws and returned to the scene remotivated.

In a show of talent, Rahane hit a double century in the ongoing Ranji Trophy match between Mumbai and Hyderabad on Wednesday. Coming onto bat at number 4, Rahane took charge of Mumbai’s scoring and thwarted any challenge from Hyderabad bowlers.

The 34-year-old showcased a plethora of shots and brought about an innings to remember. In 253 balls, the Mumbai batter brought up a beautiful double century at the MCA Cricket Ground in Mumbai. His textbook inning saw 26 fours as well as 3 sixes on the first and second day of the Ranji match.

As a result of Rahane’s knock, Mumbai declared at a massive 651/6. Earlier, young batter Yashasvi Jaiswal (162), Suryakumar Yadav (90) and Sarfaraz Khan (126) had also played significant knocks for the home team.

Following Rahane’s knock, many fans have called for his inclusion in the Indian Test team. Many however have also called for a sensible approach and not hyping up the knock since it was against a poor Hyderabad bowling lineup.

Here's how Twitter reacted to Ajinkya Rahane's double century in the Ranji Trophy match: 

Incoming 18 crore bid from @rajasthanroyals 😭

— ∆ (@uncensored_monk) December 21, 2022

Ajinkya Rahane says hi with a 200 just ahead of the second anniversary of one of the most magical phases cricket has ever seen.

— Abhishek Mukherjee (@ovshake42) December 21, 2022

Mumbai captain Ajinkya Rahane scored 204 runs 261 balls with 26 fours and 3 sixes in Ranji trophy - The captain leads from the front, scored a magnificent innings.

— CricketMAN2 (@ImTanujSingh) December 21, 2022

Lagta hai waapsi hone wali hai!#AjinkyaRahane #RanjiTrophy

— Cricketbugs (@Cricketbugs0) December 21, 2022

Ab kya bahane for Rahane!#RanjiTrophy #ajinkyarahane

— CricFoot Articles (@CricfootA) December 21, 2022

Some however also understood the quality of the opposition and called for not making reactionary decisions. 

There are many hitting hundreds and double hundreds in Ranji trophy, Rahane is one of them and the least consistent

— MissSports (@Misssports1) December 21, 2022

Sorry But No Place for Rahane its finished for him Shreyas Iyer will Cement his Spot only Chance I can see is Shreyas Playing too poor with bat in coming matches

— Shariff (@Godlin1929) December 21, 2022

Rohit has been Indias best batsman since 2019. Ofcourse he has missed some matches but played some imp knocks in each n evry series. Since that aus series rahane averages less than 25 n u want him to be cap. Very nice.

— Rohit (@RoHIT444445555) December 21, 2022

Hypothetical scenario but imagine Rahane making a comeback to squad in bgt and Kohli getting dropped.

🙏🙏 Inshallah

— Pricviz (@Pric_viz_) December 21, 2022