India will be locking horns with Australia in a four-match Test series starting from December 17 right after the end of the limited-overs leg. Skipper Virat Kohli will be coming back to India for the birth of his first child and hence will be absent for the final three Tests.
For that period, vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane will stand-in as skipper and take the team forward against Tim Paine's men. Australian opener David Warner believes that Kohli and Rahane are very different by nature as cricketers.
Warner told ESPNCricInfo, "Obviously with Virat missing, and well done to him to go home and be by his partner's side for the birth of his first child. He's a great guy, Jinks (Rahane). He's calm and very measured in his approach. He's got a very good cricket brain."
The 34-year-old opined that Kohli and Rahane are like chalk and cheese, and that will make Australia change their strategy for the next 3 Tests once the former leaves.
He said, "When you take Virat out of there, I don't want to say this the wrong way, but he's obviously passionate, aggressive, he plays with that fight when you're out there. Jinks is calm, collected, measured."
"It's like chalk and cheese with two of them two and as a player to try and engage him on the field, as we're talking about engaging, and getting into that contest as players, we obviously got to think about how to do that especially with Ajinkya as captain," he added.
David Warner also applauded India's squad for having 3-4 players who can lead the side whenever required and mentioned that Rahane will bring in a measured approach to the game.
"The great thing from India's perspective is that you've got three if not four very good players who could captain the team at any time. With him, he'll bring a calm and measured approach with his nature," Warner concluded.
(With inputs from ESPNCricInfo)
