Legendary Indian cricketer, Sunil Gavaskar said that he will not be terming the captaincy of Ajinkya Rahane as “outstanding” as lovers of the game will then blame him for being biased towards the Mumbai players. Gavaskar’s remarks came as India bowled Australia out for 195 in the first innings of the Boxing-day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) after being asked to bowl first. For the Indian team, Jasprit Bumrah scalped four wickets while Ravichandran Ashwin took three wickets.
During a show on Sony Network, Gavaskar said, “From what I have seen in the last 2 Tests he has captained and ODI matches he captained, he has got a great sense of where the fielders should be kept. Having said that, it’s very important for the bowlers to bowl to their field. If the bowlers’ bowl to the field, as they did today, then the captain looks very good.”
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He further added, “Importantly, let’s not jump to conclusions too quickly. If I say that his captaincy is outstanding, then again, I will be accused of backing a Mumbai boy and all kinds of things will happen. So I don’t want to get into that because these are early days.”
Apart from Bumrah and Ashwin another standout performer for India with the ball was debutant Mohammad Siraj who scalped two crucial wickets of Manus Labushcagne and Cameron Green.
Sunil Gavaskar explained, “It’s important for India to look beyond the fact that it’s only Rahane’s captaincy. It’s the way Ashwin bowled, it’s the way Bumrah bowled, it’s the way Siraj made his debut. I mean imagine, being a new-ball bowler, and you don’t get to bowl a single delivery before the second session. It tells you a lot about this Indian team that they were at the Australians and they got the early wicket. “
With the Indian bowlers once again stealing the show, it was a test of facing 11 overs of quality pace bowling for the batsmen in the closing stages of the opening day. While Shubman Gill came out with flying colors, having hit an unbeaten 38-ball 28, Mayank Agarwal fell for a duck.
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At stumps, India was 36/1 with Gill batting on 28 and Cheteshwar Pujara giving him company on 7. The Indian team is trailing Australia by 159 runs with nine wickets in hand.
