“CSK really respects Test veterans” - Twitterati troll Chennai Super Kings for picking Ajinkya Rahane at IPL 2023 auction 

Four-time IPL champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) purchased former Indian Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane for his base price of ₹50 lakh at the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 auction in Kochi on Friday, December 23.

The 34-year-old was CSK’s first purchase at the mini-auction. Chennai were the first to make a move for the right-handed batter. There was not much enthusiasm for Rahane among other franchises. As a result, ₹50 lakh turned out to be the closing bid and the Mumbai batter was sold to CSK for his base price.

The latest development will see Rahane reunite with CSK skipper MS Dhoni. The two had earlier played together for the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant. Rahane was part of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) last season. He had a mixed edition before being ruled out due to a hamstring injury.

Twitterati were puzzled with CSK’s decision to go for Rahane. There were quite a few funny posts on the franchise’s obsession for ‘Test’ players. Some even compared the latest pick to Cheteshwar Pujara being bought for the same price by the franchise at an earlier IPL auction. Here are some reactions from the micro-blogging site to CSK’s decision to purchase Rahane:

---

Ajinkya Rahane’s IPL stats

Rahane, 34, is a highly experienced IPL player. He has so far featured in 158 matches for multiple franchises, going back to the inaugural edition in 2008. The right-handed batter has so far scored 4074 runs at an average of 30.86 and a strike rate of 120.68 with two hundreds and 28 fifties.

In the IPL 2022 season, he scored 133 runs in seven matches at an average of 19.00 and a strike rate of 103.91. He failed to register a half-century and had a best of 44.

Rahane, who was dropped from the Test squad earlier this year after a prolonged lean run, has been captaining Mumbai in the ongoing domestic season. He scored a double hundred in Mumbai’s win over Hyderabad in the Ranji Trophy 2022-23 match at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai.

The cricketer also made headlines recently when he claimed that the kind of wickets prepared in India led to his, Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara’s Test averages coming down in the last two to three years.