Former Indian middle-order batter Ajinkya Rahane, who recently announced his retirement from all forms of the game, has strolled down memory lane to recall how he effectively saved Yashasvi Jaiswal from suspension.
While representing West Zone in the 2022 Duleep Trophy final against South Zone, Jaiswal engaged in a heated altercation with South Zone all-rounder Ravi Teja. However, Rahane quickly intervened and ordered the then 20-year-old Jaiswal to leave the field, which turned out to be a beneficial decision for his career.
“I sensed the situation that then, things would probably go out of hand. Yes, probably Yashasvi must have felt bad that day, but then I have seen many situations where players have been banned. I sensed the situation and also I felt both the players were going out of hand. It was my responsibility to control my teammate. You respect the umpires, the officials who are on field, who are controlling the game. Everyone can make mistakes, but as a player, you have to be within your limits,” Rahane said at The Indian Express’ Idea Exchange.
“So, it was my instinct to send him off the field. As a player, I sensed that he might feel bad, but it was okay. At that point of time, it was a good thing for him. I told him to go inside, sit out for five to six overs, put some ice on his head and then return,” he added.
Interestingly, the match referee for that particular fixture, Narayanan Kutty, had already prepared a four-match suspension for the young batter, which was halted because of Rahane’s timely intervention.
“Eventually, I got to know that the match referee was ready with a four-match ban. The letter was written. He came up to me and said ‘Here’s the letter, but since you did that (sending Yashasvi out), I am tearing this up.’ He tore up the letter in front of me. As a leader, you have to be aware of the situation. That’s your thing to do. So in the end, I was happy. He didn’t get any ban and now he’s playing for India. He’s a quality player. I’m not taking any credit away from him, but you never know what would have happened (if Jaiswal was banned),” Rahane added.
