Australia vs India: Rahane has been able to do something special says, Ponting.
Australia vs India 2nd Test: Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting praises stand-in skipper of India, Ajinkya Rahane for his supreme ton against a quality bowling unit. Ajinkya Rahane slammed his 12th Test ton on the Second Day of the Boxing Day Test against Australia. Rahane’s innings of unbeaten 104 put the visitors in the driving seat in the Test game.
With his 12th Ton, Rahane also become the only second skipper to score a test century at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). He is now also the second Indian cricketer to score multiple test tons at the same venue. Previously Vinod Mankad held the record.
Ponting in talks with cricket.com.au praises Rahane for his brilliant leadership role.
Rahane picked up the team says, Ponting:
“I think he’s done a great job to pick up the pieces from Adelaide with this team, lead really well in the field yesterday and you can see he’s playing like a captain now as well.
He wants to play that captain’s knock; he wants to get a hundred in Virat’s absence and do the best thing he can to try and drag his country and his team back into this series,” Ponting told cricket.com.au.
“Virat will be captain of India as long as he wants to, but if he thinks standing down is going to make him an even better player, then that’s a scary thing for world cricket,” he added.
Ponting compared Rahane with Virat’s captaincy and said Ajinkya has got something special in him.
“I’m not doubting Kohli’s captaincy skills or credentials at all, I’m just saying it’s going to take something special to pick up the pieces and Rahane’s been able to do that so far. I don’t think there’ll be pressure from anywhere else for Kohli to do that but let’s wait and see,” Ponting further said.
At the end of the play of Day 2, India amassed 277 runs with 5 wickets in hand. Rahane unbeaten at 104 while all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is standing close to his half-century.
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