It was Ajinkya Rahane, nicknamed ‘Jinks,’ who broke Team India’s Australia ‘jinx’ by leading the team to a historic Border-Gavaskar Trophy triumph Down Under. Although Virat Kohli was the official captain at the start of the series, he returned home after the ’36 all-out’ horror in Adelaide. Rahane then stepped up to lead the troops for the remaining three matches of the four-Test series. The result was a remarkable 2-1 series victory for India. As Rahane calls time on his career, this series will always be remembered as the pinnacle of his leadership acumen.
Rahane, who was part of the Indian team’s leadership group for most of his career, never had the opportunity to be the full-time skipper. However, the absence of the primary captain on multiple occasions saw him step up to lead.
In fact, he went on to lead India in a total of six Test matches. With the curtain now down on his career, Rahane’s CV will have ‘unbeaten’ written next to his captaincy record in the longest format forever. In the six matches he led the Indian team, Rahane did not face a single defeat, recording four wins and two draws. This gives him the highest win percentage for any Indian Test captain who has led in at least five matches.
Rahane also captained the Indian team to a crucial Test win against Australia in Dharamshala in 2017 and guided the side to victory over Afghanistan in 2018.
The 38-year-old also led the Indian team in three ODIs against Zimbabwe, winning all of them. He had the opportunity to captain the T20I team as well, where India won one and lost one of the two matches against Zimbabwe.
Ajinkya Rahane’s Record As India Captain:
vs Zimbabwe (ODI): Won (4 runs)
vs Zimbabwe (ODI): Won (62 runs)
vs Zimbabwe (ODI): Won (83 runs)
vs Zimbabwe (T20I): Won (54 runs)
vs Zimbabwe (T20I): Lost (10 runs)
vs Australia (Test): Won (8 wickets)
vs Afghanistan (Test): Won (inns & 262 runs)
vs Australia (Test): Won (8 wickets)
vs Australia (Test): Draw
vs Australia (Test): Won (3 wickets)
vs New Zealand (Test): Draw
In total, Rahane led the Indian team in 11 matches, losing just once. In Tests and ODIs, he didn’t suffer a single defeat. In fact, of all the captains to have led India in 5 or more Test matches, Rahane’s record stood at the absolute top. Even the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni couldn’t do what Rahane managed to.