Rahane to play a full season for Leicester

Mumbai: The Leicestershire County Cricket Club on Tuesday announced the signing of former India captain Ajinkya Rahane for the 2023 season.
The club revealed on its website that the 34-year-old Mumbaikar is set to arrive in June after playing in the IPL with the Chennai Super Kings, and will be available for eight County Championship matches, as well as the entire Royal London Cup (One Day tournament) in August.The Indian batsman is Leicestershire’s latest overseas signing for 2023 after Wiaan Mulder and Naveen-ul-Haq.
This will be Rahane's second stint in county cricket, after he became the first Indian cricketer to play for Hampshire in 2019.
Currently out of the Indian team, Rahane has scored 4,931 runs at an average of 38.52, including 12 hundreds in Tests, and 2,962 runs at 35.26, including three centuries in ODIs. He has also scored 12,865 runs@47.12 in First-Class cricket, including 39 centuries and 54 fifties. “I’m 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,” Rahane said.
Last season, Cheteshwar Pujara, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar and Umesh Yadav were the Indian players to feature in county cricket.
Speaking about Rahane’s signing, Director of Cricket, Claude Henderson, said: “I’m extremely excited to welcome Ajinkya to Leicestershire. 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.”