3 talking points from KL Rahul's debut as Test captain
As regular Test skipper Virat Kohli was ruled out with an upper back spasm, KL Rahul had the opportunity to lead India in the longest format for the first time.
Taking on South Africa in the second Test at the Wanderers, Rahul could've sealed India's first Test series win in the Rainbow Nation. But it wasn't to be as his counterpart, Proteas captain Dean Elgar, played a gritty knock in the fourth innings to take his team to a comfortable seven-wicket win.
Kohli is expected to return to the playing XI for the third and final Test but it may not be long before we see Rahul lead the Indian team again. Here are three takeaways from his debut as Test captain.
#3 There is no substitute for Virat Kohli's energy
KL Rahul didn't put too many feet wrong in his first Test as captain for India, but it was impossible to notice the difference in energy on the field. Kohli, known for his constant encouragement and aggression, cut a disconsolate figure in the dugout as India failed to find penetration in the final innings of the match.
The encounter made one thing clear - there's simply no substitute for Kohli's energy. Yes, India did manage to win a historic Test series in Australia without their regular skipper, but when the going gets tough in overseas conditions, few leaders inspire confidence like Kohli does.
Rahul has often been criticized for being passive while at the helm - mostly for Indian Premier League franchise Punjab Kings - and it didn't seem like those claims were unwarranted.
#2 Captaincy did not seem to have affected KL Rahul's batting
Despite his failure in the second innings, KL Rahul showed enough proof that captaincy didn't affect his batting. In the Indian Premier League, the 29-year-old has often had to curb his instincts and bat with additional responsibility, but the Test format and its lack of rigidity allowed him to be his measured best at the top of the order.
Rahul left confidently outside off, putting away anything in his arc. He anchored the innings as the other middle-order batters failed to impress and took India to a fighting total. It was a welcome sign for Rahul, who has long been earmarked as the heir to the aging duo of Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
#1 KL Rahul's usage of Ashwin and Thakur could've been better
While Rahul's batting was calculated, his usage of bowlers and field placements arguably weren't.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Shardul Thakur were used rather strangely, while a series of half-chances went where other captains would've placed close-in fielders. Edges through the slips and the vacant gully region were common in South Africa's second innings as India struggled to find the right balance between attack and defense.
Ashwin was used as a defensive option to keep things tight from one end, with a bat-pad chance evading what would've been a simple chance to forward short leg. Thakur, meanwhile, was introduced into the attack very late in the first innings, even though he has often shown that he has the ability to extract lateral movement when the other bowlers can't.
Rahul is still inexperienced at the international level and it is impossible to expect perfection, but it can be said that his tactics in the second Test left a lot to be desired.