Former Pakistan fast bowler, Shoaib Akhtar showered immense praises on the captaincy of Ajinkya Rahane, saying India’s stand-in skipper is a cricket savvy guy and he motivated the team to show character under his leadership. Ajinkya Rahane has taken the charge of Team India in the absence of regular captain Virat Kohli, who returned back after the first Test to attend the birth of his first child. Going into the match, India was under some serious pressure after getting bundled out of 36 in the Adelaide Test.

Rahane’s captaincy strategies including the bowling changes, field placements, positivity, and calmness was a reason why India managed to bowl out Australia for 195 in their first innings. And when the team needed Rahane the batsman, he led from the front with a splendid century. In a true show of character, Ajinkya Rahane built some strong partnerships to take India to a position from where they can smell a possible victory now.

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In the latest video on his Youtube channel, Shoaib Akhtar said, “I get happy to see the character of teams. One man takes the onus of changing the scenario of the match. Team India has regrouped and smashed Australia. They have also shown the world that they have the power to regroup. This is the character of a team under a captain like Ajinkya Rahane.”

He further added, “You can see his bowling changes, the way bowlers responded. Rahane was calm under pressure and did perfect maneuvering in field placements. Teams build on the characters of captains, bowlers respond, batting line-up charges in. Rishabh Pant played a handy cameo but Jadeja was effective. You have to praise Rahane for his knock of 104 runs and bringing India in the driver’s seat vs Australia.”

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Currently, at the end of Day 3, Australia is having a lead of a couple of runs with just four wickets in hand. It’s India’s game to lose from here.