Ajinkya Rahane to play County Cricket 2023 for Leicestershire

Ajinkya Rahane to play County Cricket 2023 for Leicestershire: Veteran Indian Test batter Ajinkya Rahane has signed a County contract with Leicestershire for the 2023 English summer. The batter will play as many as eight county championship matches along with a full season of Royal London ODI competition in the upcoming few months.

Rahane will mark his second stint in the County Championship with Leicestershire in 2023 after having played for Hampshire back in 2019. He scored a century in his county debut for Hampshire against Nottinghamshire.

Notably, Rahane is in the list of Leicestershire's list of overseas signings for the 2023 summer, which also features South Africa's all-rounder Wiaan Mulder and Afghanistan's pacer Naveen ul-Haq.

Notably, Ajinkya Rahane will be available for the County stint only after completing his Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 assignment with Chennai Super Kings (CSK). The right-handed batter is expected to arrive in England in June, following the wrap of IPL 2023.

Rahane said he is excited to join the new city and looking forward to meeting his new teammates. He said: "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."

"I'm extremely excited to welcome Ajinkya to Leicestershire," the club's director of cricket Claude Henderson said. "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."

It's important to note that Ajinkya Rahane faced an outside door from the Indian test squad last year following a string of poor scores. He was dropped from India vs Sri Lanka Test series, which was held in March 2022. Although Rahane was dropped from the test squad, the Indian chief selector advised him to play domestic tournaments and score some runs as the doors were still open for him.

Rahane, too, hasn't given up on his test comeback hopes. The batter had a sublime last Ranji Trophy season where he scored 634 runs including a double ton, in seven matches at an impressive average of 57.63.

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