FOR GREATER SUCCESS

Ajinkya Rahane hasn’t played a Twenty20 International for more than an year but the inform India batsman is counting on former coach Praveen Amre’s innovative advice to come good in the forthcoming T20 World Championships in Bangladesh. Amre, who groomed Rahane early in his career with the Mumbai Ranji Trophy team, is now helping him carry his Test and ODI form into the shortest format by employing baseball techniques while batting so that the 25-year-old can generate more power in his strokes.

“The pitches in Bangladesh are on the slower side. You need to generate more power in your strokes. I have trained him to try and do that. In T20 power hitting matters,” Amre told this newspaper.

“Players can generate a lot of force in their strokes with a rounded bat in baseball and I thought why not implement that hitting technique. So I experimented and tried it myself,” he added.

Rahane has played seven T20 games for India and his only fifty came in his debut match against England in 2011. He played his last T20I game against Pakistan in December 2012.

“He has been in good form and he is ready to contribute in T20s. Though he hasn’t played any international game in the shortest format recently, he had a good 2013 Champions League T20 in which he walked away with the Golden Bat award,” Amre said.

Rahane also has had a successful stint with Rajasthan Royals and was a contender for the Orange Cap in 2012 before losing the battle to Chris Gayle. His textbook style of batting was compared with his captain and mentor Rahul Dravid. But Amre’s advice has worked wonders for him in the past and now Rahane will hope that it helps him in Bangladesh also. Rahane however may struggle to find a place in the middle order, which comprises of Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, M.S.Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja, but he is mentally ready for any batting spot.

“We have also worked on the mindset for the past four days. How he will approach the game if he is opening, or when he is batting lower the order or when there is a six to be hit off the last ball,” Amre added.