India vs Australia: “Ajinkya Rahane’s captaincy has been brilliant so far,” says Ricky Ponting

India vs Australia: “Ajinkya Rahane’s captaincy has been brilliant so far,” says Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting

Former Australia captain, Ricky Ponting on Saturday praised the leadership of India stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test match between India and Australia in Melbourne.

Ponting’s remarks came as India bowled out Australia for 195 in the first innings. Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin scalped 4 and 3 wickets respectively.

“Rahane’s captaincy has been brilliant so far. We were all a bit worried about how they were going to pick themselves up after Adelaide. I think they looked potentially better today under Rahane’s leadership. Rahane’s field placements, bowling changes have all been pretty much spot on. With captaincy, making bowling changes, and changing the field, you need guys to be able to execute well,” Ponting was quoted as saying by cricket.au.in.

“Some of the wickets they got today, even Smith at leg slip early on, I think that was a set plan. Joe Burns’ dismissal would have been exactly how they wanted it. Cam Green was set up today as well — Siraj bowled some really good outswingers to him then bowled an inswinger back down the line that trapped him in front. I think there’s been a lot of planning that’s gone into it and Rahane should take a lot of credit for that,” Ponting added.

‘It’s becoming more of a tactic in the game’

Ajinkya Rahane
Ajinkya Rahane

Ajinkya Rahane employed a leg slip for his bowlers on the first day at MCG. As a result, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, and Tim Paine all fell into the trap. Ricky Ponting praised Ajinkya Rahane along with saying that it was becoming more of a tactic in the game.

“The amount of catches you see now off the fast bowlers at leg gully is astounding. The last three or four years, whether it’s in Australia or (wherever) it is, we’ve had a lot of our players caught there and even thinking back two years ago to the MCG, Pat Cummins got a few of the Indian guys caught in the leg gully area as well. It’s becoming more of a tactic in the game,” Ricky Ponting said.

“What happens when a fast bowler pushes one down the leg side, the tendency for right-handers is to just fall over a little bit. If you’re falling to the off-side to try and keep the ball down on the leg-side becomes that little bit more difficult. As this game goes on, I reckon we’ll see even the Australians have a leg gully in there for a lot of the time, particularly against the right-handers,” he added.

The visitors trail by 159 runs with nine wickets in the bag and a score of 36/1.

Also Read: India vs Australia: Virat Kohli elated with India’s strong performance on Day 1