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Ajinkya Rahane's IPL fortunes have dwindled since 2020 and come IPL 2022, he will look to a run-filled stint with his new franchise, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
A run-drought kept him out of India's Test series against Sri Lanka but Rahane has a chance to get his mojo back at the marquee tournament.
With Shreyas Iyer cashing in on his opportunities with the Test side, life has become increasingly difficult for India's former Test second-in-command to maintain a place.
From this perspective, we look at why the IPL 2022 matters to Rahane.
#1 Ajinkya Rahane's chance to resurrect his IPL career
Rahane played just two games in IPL 2021 and nine games in 2020. Both seasons saw him notch up eight and 113 runs, respectively, making them forgettable outings.The last time he had a run slump was in IPL 2011, when he scored just 120 runs from ten games.
This time around, his experience will almost certainly get him a few games as an opener alongside Venkatesh Iyer where he will look to conjure up valuable runs.
The right-left combination will help the side, as will Rahane's ability to score at a fairly quick clip in the powerplay.
Over the course of his IPL career, Rahane has stacked up 3941 runs from 151 matches at an average of 31.52 and a strike rate of 121.33.
#2 Opportunity to secure his Test spot with a run-filled IPL 2022
While Cheteshwar Pujara will head to England for some county cricket stints, Rahane will have the Ranji Trophy and the IPL 2022 to score some runs.
The ongoing Ranji season has already seen him score a ton and a fifty, but the IPL gives him a good ten+ games to make a mark and inch closer to reclaiming his Test spot.
Click here to view the IPL Winners List.
#3 Stake a claim for the T20 World Cup Squad
This might seem unlikely considering India's crowded middle order for their ICC T20 World Cup 2022 campaign slated to be held in Australia later this year.
But should Rahane have the kind of IPL 2022 season he had in 2012, 2013 and 2015, which saw him score 400 and 500+ runs, it would be the comeback story of the year, especially considering he last played a T20I in 2016.
Note that his international career began with a T20I debut against England in 2011 and he scored a crisp fifty on a cold day in Manchester. It will be a fairytale story if he makes this plot happen.
