Dombivli, the satellite town near Mumbai that Ajinkya Rahane spoke about in his retirement video, is around 50 km from the Azad Maidan, the cradle of Mumbai's school cricket. The journey from home to the ground took nearly two hours, including an 80-minute ride in a packed suburban train. Rahane would leave home around 7 a.m. to make it to Azad Maidan in time for a 9.30 a.m. match.

That was his match-day routine, friends who travelled with him on those train journeys recall. He would carry two tiffin boxes - one for breakfast and the other for lunch - and eat at the ground while many of his seniors went out in search of a nearby eatery. From an early age, his focus never wavered.

One of Rahane's earliest mentors was former India left-arm spinner Nilesh Kulkarni. Both hailed from Dombivli and, coincidentally, went to the same school - SV Joshi High School - albeit at different times. One day, Kulkarni received a call from the school's coach, urging him to take a look at a promising young cricketer.

"I still remember the day I received a call from the school coach. It happened to be the same school I had studied at, SV Joshi High School. The coach told me there was a bright young cricketer who played exceptionally well and urged me to come and watch him.

“As luck would have it, I had some work in Dombivli around that time, so I went and watched him bat in the nets. I was really impressed. The fact that we came from the same town and had studied at the same school made it even more special,” recalls Kulkarni, who is 15 years older than Rahane. “From the very beginning, he stood out for his sincerity, hard work, focus and eagerness to learn.”

Kulkarni later moved from Dombivli to Mulund. Years later, Rahane also shifted to the same neighbourhood, settling just behind the former India spinner's house. The two would often travel together to the Wankhede Stadium or the BKC ground for practice. Their bond continued.

"As we started travelling together, I began to understand the way he thought. He was always a shy and introverted boy, but he was equally firm about what he wanted. Right from the beginning, he was determined to make something of himself," says Kulkarni, an observation shared by another former teammate, Dhawal Kulkarni.

“He is calm but there is aggression behind that calm exterior. Even in pressure, he would appear calm and I realised that there is an element of calm aggression in him. We both played U-19 for Mumbai, Under-19 for India and then for the Senior Mumbai team. He is always focused and sincere,” says Dhawal Kulkarni, a former India pacer, who played under Rahane and considers him a bowlers’ captain.

Sincerity, dedication, hard work and desire to learn have, of course, long been the hallmarks of Rahane's career. Raju Pathak, a respected coach in Mumbai cricket, recalls a match at Azad Maidan when Rahane suffered a leg injury and was unable to bat in his usual position at the top of the order.

With the team in dire need of runs, Rahane volunteered to bat despite the injury. "Despite being in considerable pain, he walked in at No. 7 and scored around 35 runs to steer the team to victory. He would be 12-13 at that time. Even at such a young age, he was sincere, hardworking and completely focused on his cricket," recalls Pathak, the coach of Bandra's Rizvi College, where Rahane studied commerce.

Rahane's relentless pursuit of improvement is best illustrated by an incident recalled by Nilesh Kulkarni. "In his first season for Mumbai, he dropped quite a few catches. He came to me because I was considered a decent fielder in my playing days and asked me what was going wrong. He was genuinely trying to find an answer."

"He also comes from a karate background, he's a black belt, which meant his hands tended to be stiff while catching. I suggested a few changes, particularly using softer hands instead of hard hands. That made a big difference because he had been dropping catches in practice as well as in matches.

"To see him make that adjustment and transform himself into the outstanding fielder he is today has been remarkable. He has built an exceptional catching record and is now one of the safest fielders around. That transformation is a perfect testament to his character and his willingness to learn, adapt and improve.”

Rahane is seventh among India's most successful Test catchers, with 102 catches in 85 Tests, including 70 off the bowling of spinners.

Batting, of course, was Rahane's forte. He amassed more than 8,000 runs in 195 internationals across formats, including 15 centuries and 51 half-centuries. Several of those hundreds came in high-pressure overseas Tests in England, Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and the West Indies.

But MSK Prasad rates Rahane's gritty 48 at the Wanderers in 2018 against South Africa as his finest innings. "It was an extremely difficult pitch, and play even had to be called off one evening because of the conditions. He played one of his best knocks in that match and helped India win," says the former India chief selector.

It was the third and final Test of the series and Rahane had been left out of the first two matches despite being India's vice-captain. India had lost both Tests before he returned for the final game and played a pivotal role in the victory. He had taken the setback of being dropped in his stride.

Nilesh, however, rates Rahane's 112 in the 2020 Boxing Day Test at the MCG as his finest innings. It came in one of India's greatest Test triumphs, in a series many regard as being on par with a World Cup triumph, with Rahane captaining an injury-hit, third-string side to a memorable victory.

"I was part of the iconic 2001 home series against Australia. I played the third and final Test in Chennai. That was one heck of a series, but I still rate the 2020-21 triumph in Australia even higher, especially because of the way Rahane led the side," says Nilesh.

In that Test, Rahane introduced Ravichandran Ashwin as early as the 11th over, and the off-spinner promptly dismissed the dangerous Steve Smith for a duck. Ashwin, like Dhawal, has often described Rahane as a bowler's captain.

Rahane was also a prolific run scorer in domestic cricket and over 14,000 first class runs are testimony for that. As captain of Mumbai, he was an inspiration to the youngsters. He led Mumbai in 25 matches and was thrice part of the Ranji Trophy winning-squad.

Rahane's commitment to Mumbai remained unwavering. Even after playing 85 Tests for India, he returned to the domestic grind, turning out throughout the 2024-25 season and leading Mumbai to the Ranji Trophy title.

"That is commitment. To play an entire domestic season knowing there was little or no chance of an India comeback is truly commendable. He is one of a kind, especially for the way he scored prolifically in the SENA countries," says Praveen Amre, who continues to mentor Rahane.

"He brought immense joy to connoisseurs of Test cricket. Young batters should watch how he built an innings in the longest format. He should have been allowed to announce retirement on the ground rather than through a social media post."

Rahane's leadership style has always been about empowering his teammates rather than micromanaging every detail on the field. He trusted his senior players to take the decisions.

"He is a leader who typically leads from behind. The first thing he did after taking over the captaincy in Australia was score a century. He then empowered the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja and Ashwin to make decisions on the field. He doesn't step back; he steps aside so that others can step up," says R Sridhar, the former India fielding coach who was part of Ravi Shastri's support staff during the historic 2020-21 tour of Australia.