India’s deputy Test captain and one of the finest red-ball cricketer, Ajinkya Rahane celebrates his 32nd birthday on June 6, 2020 (Saturday). Known for his athleticism and technique and temperament with the bat, Rahane is regarded as one best Test cricketers in the country. The Mumbai-based batsman has widely praised by many legends, including Steve Waugh, for his compact technique discipline and temperament. He is also one of finest modern-day slip catchers and has over the years taken some fine catches in the slip cordon. ‘His Body Can Bend When He Moves’: Suresh Raina Picks Ajinkya Rahane As the Best Indian Fielder.

Born in Mumbai, Rahane started playing cricket from a young age. He grew up playing on matting pitches in Dombivli before travelling to Mumbai to take coaching lessons from former Indian batsman Pravin Amre at the age of 17. An interesting story goes that when Rahane was eight-year-old when batted against bowler thrice his age in the Dombivli wicket. Ajinkya Rahane Takes Up Yuvraj Singh's ‘Keep It Up’ Challenge Amid COVID-19 Lockdown (Watch Video).

The bowler crushed Rahane’s helmet with a bouncer and left the little child crying. But later Rahane got up and faced him again and smashed the bowler for five consecutive boundaries. Take a look at some interesting facts about Ajinkya Rahane.

  • Ajinkya Rahane was born in Ashwi Khurd village in Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra on June 6, 1988

  • Rahane has a black belt in karate

  • Interestingly, Ajinkya Rahane made his first-class debut against Karachi Urban in Pakistan in 2007

  • Ajinkya Rahane is one of six Indian cricketers to score a hundred in both innings of a test match

  • Rahane is nicknamed Ajju and jinx by his friends and teammates

  • He holds an interesting record of becoming the first-ever to hit six fours in successive deliveries in T20 cricket

  • Ajinkya Rahane made his T20I debut alongside Rahul Dravid in 2011 against England

  • Rahane is the fourth Indian batsman to score a Test century in his maiden appearance at lord's cricket ground after Dilip Vengsarkar, Sourav Ganguly and Ait Agarkar. He achieved the feat in 2014 Test series

  • Ajinkya Rahane has an IPL wicket to his name. In IPL 2009, playing for Mumbai Indians, Rahane clean-bowled Luke Pomersbach of Kings XI Punjab

  • Ajinkya Rahane (8) holds the record for the highest number of catches by a non-wicketkeeper in a single test match

Playing for the Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2012, Rahane did one better and smacked RCB’s Sreenath Arvind for six successive boundaries. The entire over fetched him 24 runs, all of which came in four digits. Rahane has so far represented India in 65 Tests, 90 ODIs and 20 T20I matches and scored 4203, 2962 and 375 runs respectively.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 06, 2020 08:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).