Ajinkya Rahane donates Rs. 5 lakhs for drought relief in Maharashtra

Ajinkya Rahane, the Mumbai and Indian middle-order batsman, has chipped in with a donation of Rs 5 lakhs to the Chief Minister (CM) of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, to help the affected farmers in the state suffering due to the widespread drought. The condition has been especially severe in regions of Vidarbha and Marathwada, with lots of suicides by the farming community and job changes a regular trend, as this is the third drought they have faced in four years. Fadnavis, having recently returned from a visit to Japan, has been criticised by observers to not devote all his energies as a CM to drought relief. He had visited areas of Ahmednagar and Solapur earlier in the month. READ: Sachin Tendulkar, Ajinkya Rahane have similar batting techniques: Steve Waugh

Thank you @ajinkyarahane88 for contributing ₹5,00,000/-for #JalYuktShivar Abhiyan,an imp step for agricultural devpt. pic.twitter.com/PkzsTWMmnT

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— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) September 14, 2015

On Twitter, the CM shared a photo of Rahane making the donation to him, and wrote that the money will be utilised towards the implementation of the state’s scheme of Jal Yukt Shivar Abhiyan, the aim of which, according to the state’s official website, is to make Maharashtra a drought-free state by 2019. READ: Ajinkya Rahane ready to do anything for Indian team

Rahane has been a regular in the middle order of India’s Test and One-Day International (ODI) teams since 2014. In the recently culminated tour of Sri Lanka, he was India’s third highest run getter, with 178 runs in the three Tests, including a century. But he also created headlines for his eight catches in the first Test in Galle, a word record. He led a second-string Indian side to Zimbabwe for a number of limited-overs’ internationals. India won four of the five matches, losing the last game, a Twenty20 International (T20I) by 10 runs.