Heartening to see Australian greats praising Ajinkya Rahane’s captaincy: Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar, the former Indian batsman, said that he’s delighted to see legendary Australian cricketers praising Ajinkya Rahane for his captaincy skills. In the second Test at the MCG, Rahane stood in for Virat Kohli and helped India make a comeback into the four-match series.

After the defeat in the Day-Night Adelaide Test, the visitors won the Melbourne Test by eight wickets. Rahane also scored a century to become the Player of the Match. Gavaskar was in awe after he heard some of the best Australian cricketers lauding Rahane in the commentary box.

Gavaskar praises Ajinkya Rahane

“… you had to be around the Australian commentary boxes to understand the kind of admiration that was there for the way he (Rahane) led the team amongst some of the Australian legends who were at the commentary box,” Gavaskar was quoted as saying in India Today.

“So that was such a heartening thing to see that he was being praised for his leadership by these guys, someone like Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Mike Hussey, Shane Warne, they had nothing but praise for Rahane’s captaincy,” he stated.

However, Gavaskar also mentioned that Virat Kohli is the Test captain and he should make way for him once he returns. Virat has taken paternity leave to be with his wife Anushka Sharma.

“Rahane is the stand-in captain and as a stand-in captain or as a stand-in batsman or a new-ball bowler or off-spinner, you try to do your best at that point of time but when the main guy is back again very fit, you make way for that guy,” Gavaskar added.

Prior to the second Test, a number of experts reckoned that India didn’t have a chance in the series after Kohli’s departure. A lot of pundits also predicted a 4-0 whitewash in favour of Australia. However, Rahane has been able to turn the tables in the Boxing Day Test.

The right-hander is currently the leading run-scorer in the series with not much contributions from the other Indian batters. He also stayed unbeaten when India were chasing 70 runs to win the MCG Test. The fourth and penultimate Test is scheduled to get underway on January 7 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.