Mumbai: Former India batsman and reputed coach Praveen Amre has seen Ajinkya Rahane progress as a batsman. Often his sounding board, Amre played a key part in Rahane’s impressive performances on overseas tours of South Africa, New Zealand, England and Australia, devising new training methods to help his ward prepare in the best possible way.
On Monday, the senior selection committee headed by Sandeep Patil named Rahane as the captain of the 15-man side to tour Zimbabwe for three ODIs and two T20 games and Amre was naturally delighted.
“It is the biggest moment in his (Rahane’s) career. For any Indian cricketer, it is always a dream make it to the senior squad and then hope to mature as cricketer and lead the team. Rahane has grown in stature and it is a proud moment to see him lead the Indian team,” said Amre.
Amre, who coached a young Mumbai side to semifinals last season, said Rahane had worked extremely hard in the last three years. “He was always been a responsible cricketer. He focused hard on his game and proved his consistency in all three formats of the game, which is extremely difficult. The last three years have been very important.”
Amre said it would be interesting to see how Rahane takes up the new role. “Now that he is the captain, there is an additional responsibility on his shoulders. He has to look after his batting, others in the team and ensure that Team India emerge victorious on foreign soil.”
For Amre, it was also a day of double delight as Robin Uthappa too made a comeback to the national side while young Mumbai batsman Shreyas Iyer and fast bowler Shardul Thakur were included in the India A squad. Amre has worked with all of them at different stages in their career.
“As Mumbai coach, I always maintained that my role is to develop these players and help them play for India. I am delighted that Shreyas and Shardul have made it to the India A side. It is a step-by-step process and now they need to well in order to progress.”
