Xtra Time Web Desk: Ajinkya Rahane found a big supporter of his captaincy from none other than former Australia captain Ian Chappell. According to Ian, Rahane’s “aggressive style” of captaincy will suit the Indian team which would fancy its chances against a David Warner-less hosts in the first Test in Adelaide from December 17.
Rahane will be leading the India test team as Virat Kohli will be on a paternity break after the first Test and onus will be on Rahane to steer the ship in the remaining three games of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
“Well, I saw him captain in one Test against Australia (in Dharamsala in March, 2017) and found his captaincy to be fabulous. He was really an aggressive captain,” Chappell told PTI during a virtual interactive session “Cricket Conversations”, anchored by senior cricket journalist Ashis Ray.
Chappell then cited nuggets of Rahane”s captaincy during that Australia Test that had caught his attention.
“I remember a couple of aspects about his captaincy. What stood out for me was in the Australian first innings, Warner was going well and getting on top of Indian bowlers. He brought in Kuldeep Yadav (debutant) and he dismissed Warner.
“The second thing I remember was India chasing a low total and they lost a couple of wickets. Rahane just came in and attacked the Australian bowlers and scored some 20 odd (38 off 27 balls). I liked that approach.”
“Look, as a captain, you always have two choices — one is the aggressive route and the other is a conservative approach. I have believed that in Test cricket aggressive approach is must and Rahane is aggressive.”
While Chappell still believes that Australia might have a slight edge in Test matches but absence of a match-winner like David Warner in Adelaide will be an advantage for India.
Courtesy: PTI