Ind vs Aus: ‘I Will Be Accused Of…’ – Sunil Gavaskar Tells Why He Wants To Cautiously Praise Ajinkya Rahane

Ajinkya Rahane-led Indian cricket team showed an impressive game on the first day of the Melbourne Test to put Australia under immense pressure. In the absence of star players Virat Kohli, Mohammed Shami and Rohit Sharma, stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane made the best use of his bowlers. As a result, team India bowled out Australia for just 195 runs in 72.3 overs. Rahane’s captaincy impressed everyone and former India legendary opener Sunil Gavaskar is also among them.

Gavaskar was highly impressed with Rahane’s performance and leadership skills at the Boxing Day Test. But he said that he would stay away from praising his captaincy as it would be too soon. Gavaskar added that he does not want him to be accused of supporting Rahane, who is a ‘Mumbai player’.

Rahane has been handed over the captaincy of Team India because of regular captain Virat Kohli being on paternity leave. When asked for his comments on Rahane’s captaincy, Gavaskar told Ind vs Aus official broadcasters that we should not reach to a conclusion too soon.

Gavaskar said that if he admitted that Rahane’s captaincy is brilliant, then he will be accused of supporting ‘a Mumbai player.’ The legendary batsman was impressed with Rahane’s fielding placement in Ind vs Aus 2nd Test as three Australian batsmen – Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith and Travis Head – all three got caught out by fielders.

“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.”

“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 Sony Networks.

“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.

“These are the things we should enjoy. It tells you a lot about this Indian team that they were at the Australians and they got the early wicket. If they hadn’t got the early wicket, if Australia had gotten to a 60 or 70 for 0 kind of start, then their body language might have been different,” Gavaskar added.