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Ajinkya Rahane joins Amsterdam Flames in ETPL after retiring from international cricket

hellohimachalse@gmail.com 07 Aug 2026 51 min ago

New Delhi: Former India batter has joined Amsterdam Flames as a marquee player in the inaugural season of the European T20 Premier League (ETPL) on Friday, August 7. He hopes to make a global impact through the opportunity, which came to him on the same day he announced his international retirement.

The tournament is scheduled to begin on August 26, across Dublin, Ireland, and The Hague, Netherlands. The ETPL final will be played on September 20. Rahane said that this is a great opportunity for him and he received a call from Steve Waugh.

“It’s a great opportunity for me. When I announced my retirement…I think the same day this opportunity came up. I took a day to probably think through it. (Flames co-owner) Steve (Waugh), personally, called me and asked me about if I’m interested to play for his team,” Rahane told PTI in an interview facilitated by ETPL.

“The amount of experience I have, the amount of cricket I have played for so many years with a certain attitude, certain mindset, I thought it’s a great opportunity for me to go out there, probably create an impact globally,” he added.

Rahane said that he’s looking forward to sharing his experience with other players and also looking forward to his stint with the ETPL.

The former India batter further added that he has played many matches against the European teams like Ireland and the Netherlands. He also said that they have amazing passion for cricket, and their hunger to get better as a team is amazing.

“See, if you see European teams, you see Ireland, you see Netherlands…and Ireland recently won the series against India. Netherlands, again, on and off, they’ve been doing really well,” Rahane said.

‘Rahane represents everything you want in a professional cricketer’: Waugh welcomes Rahane

Steve Waugh, who is the co-Founder and Chief Cricket Officer of the Flames, said that Rahane has earned massive respect from the cricket world, not just for his performance but for the way he has conducted himself on and off the field.

“Rahane represents everything you want in a professional cricketer — skill, resilience, humility and leadership. Throughout his career he has earned enormous respect across the cricket world, not only for his performances but for the way he has conducted himself on and off the field,” Waugh said.

Rahane has played 308 T20 matches and scored 7968 runs at an average of 30.29 and a strike-rate of 126.77, with the help of 56 fifties and two centuries.

 

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