Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar thinks contemporary Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane will relish the opportunity to lead the side in the last three Tests in Australia and not take any extra pressure on himself.
Rahane will have the responsibility of the side after regular captain Virat Kohli returns home on paternity leave at the end of the first Test in Adelaide, starting Thursday (December 17).
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Gavaskar feels the middle-order mainstay won't be bogged down by the prospects of captaining his country on such a marquee tour abroad.
"There is no real pressure on Ajinkya Rahane, because both the times that he has led the team, he has won. He led against Australia at Dharamshala and India won. He led against Afghanistan and India won," said the batting maestro on Star Sports' show 'Game Plan'.
"So, as far as his captaincy is concerned, there is going to be no pressure because he knows he is at the moment, only the stand-in captain for three Test matches."
"So, I don't think the fact about being a captain or carrying on as captain is going to be part of his thinking at all."
"He will do the job as honestly as he plays his cricket, which means, as a batsman, he will go out there and try and let (Cheteshwar) Pujara try and grind the opposition in and play few more shots maybe."
Rahane also led the side in the two pre-series warm-up matches against Australia A.
Gavaskar also talked about Cheteshwar Pujara, the last tour's hero, and said he will have to bat long hours at the crease again if India are to keep the Australians quiet.
Pujara scored 521 runs, including three hundreds, to help Kohli's team rewrite history books with a 2-1 series scoreline on the 2018-19 trip.
"Out of 20 days of Test cricket that we have ahead of us, we are really happy to have him bat for 15 days, there is no question about it," Gavaskar said.
"Whether he has played any cricket or not, I don't think it's going to make any difference because he is so strong mentally."
"He loves batting, he loves being at the crease, he loves wearing the bowlers down. In the last two years, he has also improved his strokes and range of shots."
For former opener Matthew Hayden too, Pujara is someone who can "hurt" Australia.
"He hurt us badly (the last time). We are of a generation now where we are admiring people for their stroke play, we are admiring people for their strike rate. Well, he is one of the few guys in Test cricket that have a strike rate of sub 45 and he can hurt you," he said.
(Inputs from PTI)
