Veteran India batter Ajinkya Rahane has shared how a childhood experience during his early cricketing days became the defining moment behind his journey. He shared that his father’s quiet sacrifice instilled in him the determination to play for his family as well. Reflecting on his journey from a seven-year-old going to cricket practice in Mumbai to representing India at the highest level, Rahane revealed the incident where his father gradually encouraged him to become independent, but later on, discovered that he had never truly been alone.

“When I was at the age of seven, I was travelling by local train. On the first day, my father came and dropped me. He had to take leave from his office and he didn’t get paid at that time. The second day, he said, ‘You will have to travel alone by local train.’ I was just seven. At the age of seven, travelling with my own kit bag, the packed local train in the early hours in Mumbai,” Rahane said on BBC Sport.

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Rahane shared the full story, which emerged only years later, long after he had become used to travelling on his own.

“And he didn’t tell me that… after probably five or six years down the line, he told me on that day he was following me from another compartment just to see if I reached the railway station okay or not,” he said. “And that actually hit me hard. That’s the time I decided, whatever I do from here on, whether I play for my state or my country, I’ll do it for my parents and that motivation, that inspiration, always kept me going,” he concluded.