Former India batter Cheteshwar Pujara has paid a heartfelt tribute to Ajinkya Rahane following the latter's retirement from international cricket, describing Rahane's match-winning century in the 2020 Boxing Day Test in Melbourne as a 'character-defining' innings that encapsulated everything the Mumbai right-hander stood for as a player and leader.

A Career by the Numbers

Rahane represented India across all three formats over a distinguished career, playing 85 Tests, 90 ODIs, and 20 T20Is. His final international appearance came in a Test match against the West Indies in July 2023. In the longest format, he accumulated 5,077 runs at an average of 38.46, including 12 centuries. He scored 2,962 ODI runs at an average of 35.26 with three hundreds, and added 375 T20I runs at a strike rate of 113.29. As captain, Rahane led India in six Tests, winning four and drawing two. He also featured in the 2015 ODI World Cup and the 2014 and 2016 T20 World Cups.

The Melbourne Moment

Writing in his column for Cricinfo on Saturday, Pujara singled out Rahane's century at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the second Test of the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy as the defining image of his career. The match came just days after India's catastrophic 36 all out in Adelaide — their lowest-ever Test total. Rahane was leading the side in place of Virat Kohli, who had returned to India for the birth of his child.

'If you want to understand Ajinkya Rahane, the person, the player, the character, the leader and the team man, watch his century against Australia in the Boxing Day Test in 2020. That century by Ajju, as I call him, was a character-defining innings,' Pujara wrote.

He described how Rahane steadied the innings as wickets fell around him, ultimately leading India to a victory that reset the series. 'For me that was one of the best innings under pressure — leading as a captain and showing the team how to bat in those conditions,' Pujara added.

Leadership Without Ego

Pujara highlighted Rahane's distinctive captaincy style — one built on inclusion rather than hierarchy. According to Pujara, Rahane actively encouraged senior players to mentor younger members of the squad, creating an environment where every voice carried weight.

'Ajju told us to feel free to communicate with the younger players in whatever way we wanted, to give them whatever inputs we had. What such a thing does is create an environment where everyone's voice is heard,' Pujara recalled. 'His strength as a captain was to keep things very simple. There was no ego about who was the best in the team.'

The Bengaluru Partnership and Keeping Calm

Pujara also revisited their 118-run second-innings partnership in the 2017 Bengaluru Test against Australia — a stand that proved series-defining. He recounted how Rahane's composure defused a moment of on-field tension when Australian players appeared to be celebrating prematurely.

'I was getting a little provoked by the Aussies trying to sledge us, and I started talking back to them... Ajju said to me: "Don't get affected. Let's focus on the partnership and our bats will do the talking." And eventually that's what happened,' Pujara wrote.

On Being Dropped and Moving On

Both Pujara and Rahane were dropped from the Indian Test side in 2023, and Pujara acknowledged the emotional weight of that experience. He revealed that the two spoke at length about the disappointment, and shared a candid view that long-serving players do not always receive adequate support from team management during difficult patches.

'We both felt that the sad part is that even when you have contributed for the country for a long time, sometimes when you're going through a tough time as a batter, you don't get enough backing from the team management,' Pujara said.

Signing off with personal advice, Pujara — India Test cap No. 266 — urged Rahane, Test cap No. 278, to embrace life beyond cricket, spend time with family, and let go of the past. 'It's important for every cricketer to move on from the game. Don't hold onto the past,' he wrote.