Ajinkya Rahane, who led Team India in the absence of skipper and Indian captain Virat Kohli in Australia, returned home on Thursday to a grand welcome and a cake for him in his honour. The cake was shaped in the form of a cricket pitch with a kangaroo sitting on top of it, holding the Indian flag.
The cake has been baked by Aditi Limaye-Kamat, owner of Home Chef bakery. "My business partner Jeetendra Thakrey who is a former Ranji player suggested this idea that we do something unique," Aditi said. This was following a phone call from Rahane's friend Himanshu Patil to the bakery who wanted a 'special' cake to welcome him.
"We put up a sketch according to the ideas suggested by my business partner. Our master baker from the cake studio executed it perfectly," Aditi said. "The cake is designed into a cricket pitch with a kangaroo sitting on top. We incorporated a photograph of Rahane holding the trophy and we framed it, with a message for him," she added.
The cake that was made for Rahane is an eggless, chocolate cake. "We know Ajinkya likes chocolate cake so we made sure it's made of chocolate," the owner of the bakery said.
Meanwhile, Rahane received a grand welcome from fans. In a viral video that is doing the rounds on social media, Rahane, who arrived in Mumbai from Australia along with four other members of Team India earlier in the day, can be seen holding his daughter as fans shower flowers on the India batsman.
On Tuesday, a young and relatively inexperienced Team India became the first to beat Australia at The Gabba in over 32 years.
India defeated the hosts by three wickets in the fourth and final Test and clinched the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-1. Chasing 328 to win, India achieved the target in 97 overs with Rishabh Pant remaining unbeaten on 89.
The victory has led to a mood of celebration in the country with the relatively young Indian team that played in the absence of senior players like Virat Kohli, delivering a smash performance despite several experts predicting otherwise.
Rahane was also hailed as a "hero" in December last year when he helped India script the historic Boxing Day test win against Australia, on the fourth day of the second Test. Rahane, who had been dubbed 'Man of the Match' for the game, helped India level the four-match series 1-1 against Australia at the time.
With Tuesday's victory, Rahane has become the second Indian cricket captain to have won Test series in Australia.