Ajinkya Rahane’s captaincy is not talked about as much as others. He is not as aggressive as Virat Kohli; neither was he as cool as MS Dhoni. Instead, he is a mixture of both and in his book ‘Coaching Beyond’, former India fielding coach R Sridhar opined on Rahane’s captaincy, explaining how the batter, led the team.

“Make no mistake; Ajinkya was not a weak character. There was this incident when Prithvi Shaw was fielding at short leg in a warm-up game in Drummoyne, Sydney. The batter went for a sweep and Prithvi got smacked. As he tried to limp off the park towards the dressing room, Ajinkya was quickly on his case. From his position at slip, he had clearly seen exactly where Prithvi had been hit, which was on the shin pad,” he wrote in his book.

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He continued: “Rahane went up to him and said firmly, ‘Don’t take one more step. No one will replace you on the field. I know nothing’s wrong with you, I saw the ball hit you on your shin pad. Maybe you were waiting for an opportunity to go back inside, but that’s not happening. Go back to short leg and get into position’. Prithvi knew his bluff had been called and subtly, Ajinkya had told the rest that he would brook no shenanigans. I was mightily relieved as I was the one slated to go in as substitute as we had only XI for that game.”

Between 2017 and 2021, Ajinkya Rahane led India in six Tests, winning four and drawing two. He hasn’t lost a single Test as India’s Test captain and although the number of matches isn’t much, his win percentage as captain is 66.66.

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“Ajinkya can be firm when he has to be without being harsh, which is why India have such a good record under him. he has led the team in four Tests against Australia and India have won three of them, including two away from home. That’s a fantastic record for someone who doesn’t get to captain often, or in a string of games. He understands the game very well. He is very easy-going and approachable, and I got the sense that the senior players feel a greater sense of responsibility when he is the captain; they start chipping in more,” again shared R Sridhar.