Mumbai was once known to produce gritty batsman and has given some of the greatest names to Indian cricket. However, the Mumbai school of batsmanship had dried up as there was none after Sachin Tendulkar and Wasim Jaffer.
The talented, explosive and unorthodox Rohit Sharma is not in the mould of a typical Mumbai batsman.
Then came the hope. With tons of runs in domestic cricket over a period of five years, Ajinkya Rahane — a mixture of right technique, class, temperament, commitment, discipline and typical khadoos attitude — finally got his chance in Test cricket last year. The 25-year-old showed glimpses of his talent in the initial stage before he got noticed with a fighting 96 against South Africa in Durban.
However, he was just a potential till he proved himself by getting his maiden Test hundred on Saturday morning on seamer friendly wicket with a classy 118.
Former Test cricketer, Mumbai coach Praveen Amre, who has worked closely with Rahane, was up early to watch his ward get his maiden ton.
Amre is happy that Rahane's knock has revived the hopes of Mumbai school of batting that had dried up.
"There was none after Sachin and Wasim. Rohit Sharma was on his own. He is talented, explosive and flamboyant. However, Ajinkya is the true representative of the Mumbai school of batting. He has the batting skills, is determined, committed and disciplined with a khadoos mindset. He never missed a training session when I was Mumbai coach. His presence and performance up there has certainly revived the Mumbai batting tradition," he said.
Amre added, "Nowadays scoring a hundred in Australia, South Africa and New Zealand is the bench mark to be known as a good Test batsman.
"It was an important knock. Ajinkya batted with lot of discipline. It wasn't that easy. Especially, the way he handled the new ball and he came in when five wickets were down. He had an important role to play and he did it in style," said Amre.
"It was a chanceless knock. He got a lot of time to play and the way he looked was good. He was determined this time since he missed a hundred in Durban. The way he celebrated his hundred only suggested how happy he was to after missing getting out in Durban," he added.
