Former Australia captain Ian Chappell has found Ajinkya Rahane to be a “fabulous captain” and expects that his “aggressive style” 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.
“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.
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.”