[WATCH] Ajinkya Rahane autographs ball for kids during KKR’s practice session for IPL 2022

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) opener Ajinkya Rahane won some hearts with his sweet gesture of gifting an autographed ball to kids during a practice session of the franchise for IPL 2022.

On Monday, Kolkata shared a clip of Rahane during the IPL team’s practice session. In the video, he is seen signing a cricket ball and throwing it towards a few kids, who gleefully thanked the cricketer for the gesture:

KKR shared the clip with the caption:

“With love from @ajinkyarahane88!”

KKR have made an impressive start to their IPL 2022 schedule. The Shreyas Iyer-led franchise have won two of their first three games, defeating the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Punjab Kings (PBKS).

Rahane was purchased by the franchise for his base price of ₹1 crore at the IPL mega auction. He began the 2022 edition with an impressive 44 off 34 balls against CSK in the season opener as Kolkata chased down 132 without much trouble.

However, the 33-year-old right-handed batter failed in the subsequent two games, scoring only nine against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and 12 versus the Punjab Kings (PBKS).

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Ajinkya Rahane crossed 4000-run mark in IPL 2022 clash against PBKS

Although the opener perished cheaply against PBKS, he did achieve a landmark during his short innings as he became the ninth Indian batter and 12th overall to score 4000 runs in the IPL.

The KKR opener now has 4006 runs from 154 matches at an average of 31.30 and a strike rate of 121.28. He has two hundreds and 28 fifties to his name in the T20 league.

Virat Kohli (6336), Shikhar Dhawan (5876), Rohit Sharma (5652) Suresh Raina (5528) and David Warner (5449) are the leading run-getters in the history of the IPL. AB de Villiers (5162), Chris Gayle (4965) MS Dhoni (4835), Robin Uthappa (4813), Gautam Gambhir (4217) and Dinesh Karthik (4092) are the other batters who have notched up 4000 or more runs in the IPL.

Before being picked by Kolkata, Rahane was part of the Delhi Capitals (DC) for the last two seasons. He played only two matches in IPL 2021, scoring eight runs.

Earlier, the right-handed batter represented the Rajasthan Royals (RR), a franchise with which he tasted a lot of success. He even led the Royals. His best IPL season came back in 2012 when he smashed 560 runs, including one hundred and three fifties, in 16 matches for Rajasthan.