Ajinkya Rahane
Legendary India opener Sunil Gavaskar has refrained from commenting anything about Ajinkya Rahane's captaincy on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test, saying that he'll be accused of supporting a 'Mumbai boy'. In absence of regular skipper Virat Kohli, Rahane's captaincy shone at the MCG after he introduced spin early into the attack.
Rahane's move to bring in Ravichandran Ashwin paid off as the experienced tweaker registered figures of 35/3 to pile on the misery on the hosts. Ashwin first dismissed Matthew Wade and the big fish Steve Smith on a duck to put the visitors in a commanding position. Ashwin's third prey was Australia's skipper Tim Paine.
Along with Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah also stepped up and picked a four-fer as India restricted the Aussies to a partly total of 196. Debutant Mohammed Siraj also registered two wickets under his belt, including the crucial scalp of Marnus Labuschagne. Rahane's field placement also received praise after Smith was caught at leg gully and Labuschange at backward square leg.
"Importantly, let’s not jump into conclusions too quickly. If I say that his captaincy is outstanding, then again, I will be accused of backing a Mumbai boy and all kinds of things will happen. So I don’t want to get into that because these are early days," Gavaskar said about Rahane's captaincy on Sony Sports Network.
"From what I have seen in the last 2 Tests he captained and the one-day matches he captained, he has got a great sense of where the fielders should be kept. Having said that, it’s very important for the bowlers to bowl to their field. If the bowlers bowl to the field, as they did today, then the captain looks very good," Gavaskar said on Rahane's field placements.
Gavaskar also showered praise on the Indian bowling unit for their impressive show, Siraj, in particular, who showed glimpses of his potential in his maiden red-ball game for India.
"It’s important for India to look beyond the fact that it’s only Ajinkya Rahane’s captaincy. It’s the way Ashwin bowled, it’s the way Bumrah bowled, it’s the way Siraj made his debut.
"I mean imagine, being a new-ball bowlers, and you don’t get to bowl a single delivery before the second session. Only in the second session, you get to bowl in the 27th over but he showed great spirit in the way he came and bowled."
