Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket Players
'He makes sure he executes it': India bowling coach compares captaincy styles of Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane
Rahane made shrewd bowling changes while being attacking with the field placements. He had to work with a lot of youngsters and he was successful in bringing the best out of them.
India's tour of Australia will always be remembered by fans all around the world. Team India were on the backfoot after the first Test in Adelaide. They were without their captain Virat Kohli and were 0-1 down in the four-match Test series. But the Indian cricket team bounced back in style as they won next match in Melbourne and then defeated Australia in Brisbane to win the series.
A lot of credit has been given to stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane for the way he has led the team during the tour. Rahane made shrewd bowling changes while being attacking with the field placements. He had to work with a lot of youngsters and he was successful in bringing the best out of them.
India bowling coach Bharat Arun praised the captaincy of Rahane during the series as he said that he backs the players even if the bowler goes wrong. Made of "steely nerves", Rahane has such calmness that bowlers don't feel scared when they fail to execute a plan under him while regular skipper Virat Kohli's energy is sometimes mistaken for anger, Arun said on Wednesday.
READ | 'I was like, wow, this is unreal man': R Ashwin recalls Shubman Gill's words during MCG Test
"When it comes to Ajinkya, he is a calm person. Rahane might look calm from the outside but there is a steely nerve in him," Arun told India off-spinner Ravi Ashwin on his YouTube Channel.
"He backs players and looks calm and even if a bowler goes wrong, he might not be scared of the captain. He knows that he will be backed," he added.
Rahane's calm demeanour helped the team move on from the Adelaide disaster when the side was bowled out for 36 in the second innings.
"With Virat Kohli, if you bowl two bad balls, it might look like he will get angry, but that's just his energy. Ajinkya brings the calmness, of course, even if he buys-in the plan, he makes sure he executes it to the T," Arun said.
Asked if the biggest learning from the Australia tour is that there are many ways of skinning the cat, Arun said, "You hit the nail on the head."
"That has to be this tour's biggest learning. Instead of imposing it on players, we should make them express themselves. And for anyone to express themselves, there has to be a process.
"But to define that process and make that player agree on the same is the coach's top priority. But full credit is to the player because, he is the one who goes there and delivers them under pressure and given the experience of our bowling attack, the pressure is immense.
"To perform under pressure is the challenge. And our players accomplished that challenge exceptionally well. They saw that challenge as an opportunity."
(with PTI inputs)
