IND v AUS 2020: Ian Chappell confident about Ajinkya Rahane filling the void of Virat Kohli the captain
Former Australian skipper Ian Chappell believes that the Indian Test team's vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane is more than capable of leading the Men in Blue in Virat Kohli's absence. The latter will be heading back to India after playing the first Test at Adelaide to attend the birth of his first child.
Chappell recalled the fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia at Dharamsala back in 2017. Virat Kohli was out with a shoulder injury, and Rahane led the side in his absence.
Although he was calm and measured in his approach, Rahane's aggressive captaincy saw India beat Australia to win the series 2-1. Chappell was impressed with the mindset that Rahane brought in as a captain and the way he took on the opposition.
“As far as captaincy is concerned, I saw Ajinkya Rahane captain in one Test match against Australia when Australia were in India a few years back and it was the deciding Test match. And I was very, very impressed with Rahane’s captaincy,” Ian Chappell said while speaking to Michael Holding on the West Indies great’s YouTube channel.
“I thought he was very positive, very aggressive. When the game was in the balance, he always took the aggressive option and he batted well at a time when India were probably going to win anyhow but things had got a little bit shaky. And he came in and took on Pat Cummins and took them home to victory,” he further added.
Ian Chappell backs India's young batsmen to come good in Kohli's absence
Virat Kohli is arguably India's best batsman across formats, and his absence in the Test series is bound to have an impact on the Indian team. However, Ian Chappell thinks that India do have talented batsmen like Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, and Cheteshwar Pujara, who can step up and fill Kohli's void.
He thinks that if the Indian batsmen look at Virat Kohli's absence as an opportunity for them to cement their place in the side, it will only benefit the Men in Blue in the end.
“He [Kohli] will be a big loss but they have got some very good young batsmen. India, of all the international countries, is producing very good young batsmen and that’s been the case for a while now,” Ian Chappell said.
“And if the young blokes take the attitude: ‘alright, Kohli is gone, so this is a great opportunity for me to win myself a permanent place in the Indian side’, then it augurs well," he added.
The first of the four Tests between India and Australia will be played at Adelaide starting December 17, and it will be a Day-Night encounter.