He currently captains Mumbai in Ranji trophy and plays for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the IPL and Leicestershire in County Championship.

[22] Rahane surpassed 1000 runs in three separate seasons, and scoring 152 in the 2011 Irani Trophy match against Rajasthan helped him get selected for India's Test squad.

[30] Rahane made his Test debut on 22 March 2013 against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, Delhi.

[29] Two single-digit scores in the game prompted many to question Rahane's ability to handle pressure and replicate his domestic success at international level.

Batting in the lower-middle order, he made 209 runs at an average of 69.66 in the series (including a 96 off 157 balls at Kingsmead, Durban) against the bowling attack comprising Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander.

"For a man who had spent many a tour and series warming up the bench, carrying drinks, wondering when his opportunity will come, he has taken his chance with both hands, even though it arrived in the most difficult of conditions to bat in", cricket pundit Sidharth Monga wrote.

Underneath that seemingly soft exterior lurks a solid Test batsman, and he was on display at the Basin Reserve", ESPNcricinfo wrote in their analysis.

Put in to bat on a green-top wicket by Alastair Cook, India collapsed to 140 for six by tea, only to be rescued by Rahane's century.

[36] In the process, Rahane became the fourth Indian batsman to post a Test century on his first appearance at Lord's, joining Sourav Ganguly, Dilip Vengsarkar and Ajit Agarkar.

He made 399 runs in four, including a century and two half-centuries against the opposition attack of Mitchell Johnson and Ryan Harris, the core of a bowling unit that famously won 2013–14 Ashes series 5–0.

[44] In the home series against South Africa, he scored a brisk fifty in second Test in Pune sharing a crucial century partnership with skipper Virat Kohli.

On 15 November 2019, in the first innings of the first test match against Bangladesh, Rahane hit 86 off 172 deliveries, crossing the boundary 9 times.

He was selected in the Test eleven for a 2 match series against New Zealand in February 2020, but like the rest of the team, his batting performance was not up to the mark.

In December 2020 he was made captain of the Indian team[45] for the final three matches of India's tour of Australia in place of Virat Kohli, who was taking paternity leave.

[50][51][52][53][54] Rahane was appointed as the captain of the Indian team for the first Test against New Zealand in November 2021, as Kohli had been rested.

Despite a decent performance in Ranji Trophy 2022, he was not selected for a 2-match home series against Sri Lanka, and he was made to sit on the benches 5 times overall in his Test career.

Although Rahane made 40 runs at strike-rate of 90.90, India's hopes of their first victory of the 2011 summer against England were thwarted by a washout at Chester-le-Street.

[57] Rahane failed to impress in his next few limited over matches against West Indies, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and England.

[58][59] In a short ODI career in the middle order, Rahane has seemed unsure and struggled at times to find the balance between defence and attack.

He showed signs of comfort at the top of the order with rapid centuries against England (September 2014) and Sri Lanka (November 2014), but Rohit Sharma's second ODI double-century followed by a big hundred against Australia at the MCG pushed Rahane back to the middle order.

[61] India won that ODI series 3–0, although Rahane was not able to leave any big impacts with the bat, he made a total of 112 in three matches with only one half-century in it.

He scored a half-century on this match (61 of 39) against an England attack comprising Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann and Tim Bresnan.

[57] And then, he caught the eye of Rajasthan Royals' Shane Watson, who had watched him score an 80-ball hundred in a session in the second innings of a three-day game against Australia A in 2010.

"Opening the batting with Rahul bhai gave me a chance to express myself and showcase all that I had learned over the years," Rahane explained.

He hit a match-winning 98 in his first game of IPL 2012 against Kings XI Punjab[81] and followed that up with an unbeaten 103 against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

With Dravid guiding him, Rahane has transformed from a shy, long-format specialist into a player capable of batting at any position, in any format.

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar told NDTV, "What has been impressive about Rahane's career is the way he has made those little changes that have helped him to get better in every format of the game.

"[85] Rahane had played for Rising Pune Supergiant in the 2016 and 2017 seasons when Rajasthan Royals were banned from the IPL for two years.

In November 2019, Rahane was transferred from Rajasthan Royals to Delhi Capitals ahead of the 2020 Indian Premier League.

[88] In the 2023 edition of IPL, Rahane proved to be an integral part of the title winning CSK team where he came to bat at no.3, scoring at an extraordinary strike rate of 175+ in all the games.