After leading India to a historic Test series win Down Under, stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane landed in Mumbai on Thursday morning. As expected, he received a hero’s welcome on his arrival at home.
A huge number of cricket fans gathered on the Mumbai streets to cheer for Rahane who met his wife and daughter after months. Amid the chants of ‘aala re aala Ajinkya aala‘, flowers were showered on hi while dhol and trumpets made it a festive atmosphere.
Rahane took over the captaincy after Virat Kohli returned home after the Adelaide Test on paternity leave. The stand-in captain not only inspired his team to bounce back from the horrendous batting collapse but also played a match-winning knock in the Boxing Day Test to help India level the series 1-1.
Rahane showed utmost patience in keeping the side galvanized amid injury woes. He was the guiding light for the youngsters who stepped up in the absence of senior players and gave their best to outclass the Aussies in their own backyard.
It wasn’t an easy tour for the Indians as they were subjected to racial abuses during the last two games. Amid all these odds, Rahane led from the front, kept his men together and returned home as the second Asian captain after Kohli to have registered a Test series win on the Australian soil.
Earlier today, four more members of the Indian team, along with Rahane, arrived in Mumbai. As per reports, they have been advised to remain in seven-day home quarantine.
Rohit Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Prithvi Shaw and head coach Ravi Shastri were the other members who landed this morning.
T Natarajan, who was originally picked as a net bowler but became the first Indian cricketer to make his international debut across all three formats during the same tour, landed in Bengaluru and then took off for his village in Tamil Nadu’s SalemThe players from Chennai, including veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, rookie Washington Sundar and bowling coach Bharat Arun are currently in Dubai and are expected to reach the country early morning on Friday.
