Breaking: Ajinkya Rahane Moves To Delhi Capitals From Rajasthan Royals

Delhi Capitals, on Thursday, pulled off a major coup by roping in Ajinkya Rahane from Rajasthan Royals as a part of a trade deal. In return for Ajinkya Rahane, Rajasthan Royals have secured the services of leg-spinner Mayank Markande and Rahul Tewatia. After being a part of Mumbai Indians in the 2008 and 2009 seasons, Ajinkya Rahane moved to Royals in 2011.

And it did not take him long to make his mark. In 2012 season, Ajinkya Rahane became the first batsman to hit a century and emerged the leading run-scorer for Rajasthan Royals. Since then he has been playing for Royals barring the 2016 and 2017 seasons when the right-hander played for Rising Pune Supergiant as the Royals were serving a suspension.

He had also led Royals before being replaced by Steve Smith as the captain of the side last year. Rahane, who, played 100 games for the Royals, found some form after the sacking. He scored a century against Capitals and ended the season with 393 runs from 14 games.

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Delhi Capitals, meanwhile, have been rebuilding the team ever since the JSW Group came onboard in 2019. Last season, they had roped in Shikhar Dhawan from Sunrisers Hyderabad and the result was there for all to see. The India opener slammed 521 runs with five fifties as Delhi made it to the playoffs for the first time since 2012.

Delhi already have some very exciting young talents in their ranks in the form of Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant and the addition of Rahane will give the batting line-up the much-needed solidity and experience. Before Rahane, Delhi had also signed up Ravichandran Ashwin from Kings XI Punjab.

Meanwhile, Markande had moved from Mumbai Indians to Capitals earlier in this transfer window, but has now been traded to the Jaipur franchise. He had represented Mumbai Indians in the last two seasons, claiming 16 wickets from 17 games at an economy of 8.54.