As India bundled out the Australians for a paltry total of 195 on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test at MCG, former skipper Sunil Gavaskar praised stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane but in a cautious manner for his excellent use of the bowling resources up his sleeves.
Having taken the aggressive route in the team selection itself by opting for five specialist bowlers, Rahane gauged the surface brilliantly.
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Upon losing the toss and being asked to bowl, he introduced spin twins Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja quickly into the proceedings because of the early moisture available.
Rahane then rotated the three pacemen very nicely throughout the day on a pitch also offering good pace and bounce.
In a post-day show for 'Sony Sports Network', Gavaskar, while wary of being "accused of backing a Mumbai boy", took special note of how well Rahane led.
"Importantly, let’s not jump into 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," he said.
"From what I have seen in the last 2 Tests he captained and the one-day 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."
Premier off-spinner Ashwin (3/35) and spearhead Jasprit Bumrah (4/56) delivered stand-out spells, while pacer Mohammad Siraj (2/40) had a very impressive start to his Test career.
"It’s important for India to look beyond the fact that it’s only Ajinkya Rahane’s captaincy," Gavaskar said. "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 bowlers, and you don’t get to bowl a single delivery before the second session. Only in the second session, you get to bowl in the 27th over but he showed great spirit in the way he came and bowled."
"These are the things we should enjoy. It tells you a lot about this Indian team that they were at the Australians and they got the early wicket. If they hadn’t got the early wicket, if Australia had gotten to a 60 or 70 for 0 kind of start, then their body language might have been different," he added.
India then lost opening batsman Mayank Agarwal (0) without him troubling the scorers, but another debutant Shubman Gill (28*) batted with nice control against some class bowling from the Aussies and together with No.3 Cheteshwar Pujara (7*) saw the team through to the close of play. The Indians were 36/1 at the end, trailing the hosts by another 159 runs in the first innings.
