Take over the team in the absence of a regular employer virat KohliAs Rahane mustered his resources well when India sacked Australia for a sub-par 195 in 72.3 overs on the opening day of Test 2 here.
When asked for his comments on Rahane’s leadership, Gavaskar said: “… let’s not jump to conclusions too quickly. If I say that his captaincy is outstanding, again, they will accuse me of endorsing a Mumbai boy and all kinds of things will. ” occur.
“So I don’t want to get into that because these are the early days,” the legendary hitter said on Sony Sports Network.
Gavaskar was impressed with Rahane’s field locations as three Australian hitters: Marnus Labuschange, Steve Smithand Travis Head, were captured by fielders deployed in different positions.
“From what I’ve seen in the last 2 events that he captained and the one-day games that he captained, he has a great idea of where the fielders should stay,” Gavaskar said.
“Having said that, it is very important that the bowlers go to their field. If the bowlers throw to the field, as they did today, then the captain looks great.”
Rahane was also impressive with her bowling changes. He introduced R Ashwin within the first hour of play and the senior spinner delivered, firing Matthew Wade and Steve Smith to reduce Australia to 38 by three.
Rahane also didn’t give rookie Mohammed Siraj a single before the lunch break, as he knew his strength is generating rhythm and movement with old and semi-new balls as the pacemaker returned with two crucial grounds.
Gavaskar said it was important to attribute India’s success on the opening day to the efforts made by the bowling unit.
“It’s important for India to look beyond the fact that it’s just Ajinkya Rahane’s captaincy. It’s the way Ashwin pitched, it’s the way Bumrah pitched, it’s the way Siraj made his debut,” said the player. 71 years old.
“I mean, imagine being a new bowler, and you can’t throw a single delivery before the second session. Only in the second session, you can bowl in the 27, but he showed great spirit in the form. in which he came and threw.
“It tells you a lot about this Indian team that they were in the Australians and they got the early wicket. If they hadn’t gotten the early wicket, if Australia had gotten to a 60 or 70 for 0 start rate, then their body language might have been different “.
Gavaskar was “quite surprised by the fact that on day 1 there is a lot of spinning for the Indian spinners.”
Ashwin took advantage of the twist and rebound at the MCG to capture three wickets for 35, which included the prized scalp of Smith, who was fired by a duck for the first time in more than four years in test cricket.
“He (Ashwin) has been playing straight, he has been playing in the middle and in the leg, it has been more or less a plan to try to prevent batters from playing any shot for the offside,” Gavaskar told 7 cricket .
“If you look at the firing of Smith because maybe he was at zero, he wanted to go off the mark, he couldn’t control it.”
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