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India middle-order batter Ajinkya Rahane is set to join Leicestershire County Cricket Club for the upcoming 2023 country season, the club announced on Tuesday.
34-year-old Rahane will join his county team in June after completing his IPL campaign with Chennai Super Kings, and will be available for eight county championship matches, as well as the entirety of the One Day Cup, said Leicestershire in an official statement.
After making his debut against England in 2011, Rahane has represented India in 192 matches and has played 82 Tests for India, including six Tests where he captained his side, scoring 4,931 runs at an average of 38.52, hitting 12 centuries. He has also played 90 ODIs, scoring 2,962 runs at an average of 35.26, including 3 hundreds.
He is also one of only six Indians to have scored a century in each innings of a match, while he also holds the world record for most catches in a Test (eight vs Sri Lanka, 2015).
🤳 A message to the #FoxesFamily from our newest recruit. 🦊💚
🎟️ See him in action this summer: https://t.co/l3FspkYSxp
🦊#MomentsThatMatter pic.twitter.com/xa0GbtmXLk
— Leicestershire CCC 🏏 (@leicsccc) January 31, 2023
“I’m really happy to be joining Leicestershire for the upcoming season. I can’t wait to play alongside my new teammates and explore the vibrant city of Leicester,” Rahane said.
Director of Leicestershire Cricket Club, Claude Henderson, added: “I’m extremely excited to welcome Ajinkya to Leicestershire. He comes with a lot of experience and a tremendous work ethic. It’s a great opportunity for us to tap into that.
“I had conversations with (Assistant Coach) Alfonso Thomas and (Head Coach) Paul Nixon, who had eyed Ajinkya in the past, so he was always on our radar. It was a case of seeing what the team needed, which was definitely a senior overseas batsman, so we are delighted to have secured someone of Ajinkya’s calibre.”
Rahane, who last played a Test match for India in January 2022, recently said that he wasn’t giving up on making a comeback for India. In this season’s Ranji Trophy, while captaining his state team Mumbai, Rahane was brilliant with the bat, scoring 634 runs in seven matches at an average of 57.63, including a double hundred.
He is the latest overseas player to be signed by Leicestershire for 2023, after South Africa all-rounder Wiaan Mulder, who has rejoined for all three formats, and Afghanistan quick Naveen-ul-Haq, who has signed for a third consecutive Vitality Blast campaign.
Rahane previously had a stint in county cricket with Hampshire in 2019 where he scored a century on his debut in the competition against Nottinghamshire.
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