India batter Ajinkya Rahane to join Leicestershire from June

The 34-year-old will be available for the County Championship and One-Day Cup during his second stint in county cricket, after spell at Hampshire in 2018

Ajinkya Rahane will give Leicestershire's batting line-up a necessary boost after signing up for a stint during the County Championship and Royal London Cup.

The India batter will arrive following the Indian Premier League with the visit of Gloucestershire (June 11-14) pencilled in for his debut.

He will be available for the remainder of the campaign, including the 50-over competition in August.

Though the 34-year-old is currently out of the international picture he possesses a fine first-class record of 12,865 runs at 47.12.

He has 39 centuries in red-ball cricket - a dozen of which came in 82 Tests for India - and 54 fifties.

^{Rahane in action against England in August 2021 [Stu Forster/Getty Images]}

Rahane's List A record is also impressive, having scored 6,317 runs at 40.23 with 10 hundreds.

It will be the right-hander's second stint in county cricket after playing seven Championship matches for Hampshire in 2019.

But he will be hopeful of improving on a return of 307 runs at 23.61. Across 15 Tests in England Rahane's record is not much better, averaging 26.03 with a single ton in 29 innings.

Director of cricket, Claude Henderson said: "I'm extremely excited to welcome Ajinkya to Leicestershire. He comes with a lot of experience and a tremendous work ethic. It’s a great opportunity for us to tap into that.

"I had conversations with (assistant coach) Alfonso Thomas and (head coach) Paul Nixon, who had eyed Ajinkya in the past, so he was always on our radar. It was a case of seeing what the team needed, which was definitely a senior overseas batsman, so we are delighted to have secured someone of Ajinkya's calibre."

^{Wiaan Mulder and Naveen-ul-Haq are already confirmed for 2023 [David Rogers/Tony Marshall/Getty Images]}

South Africa allrounder Wiaan Mulder, available across all formats, and Afghanistan youngster Naveen-ul-Haq (T20 Blast only) are already confirmed to return to Grace Road in 2023.

A fourth and final overseas signing for the start of the season is expected to be announced next month.

It has been a winter of upheaval at Leicestershire following a fourth winless red-ball campaign in the last 10.

Ben Mike rejected a new contract to join Yorkshire while six players, including experienced opener Hassan Azad, were released.

Sol Budinger and Matt Salisbury have arrived as domestic recruits and Lewis Hill will captain in Division Two after Callum Parkinson was stripped of the leadership having rejected a new contract.

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