Have my own rules and ideas for Indian team: Ajinkya Rahane

Ajinkya Rahane, India’s stand-in captain

Ajinkya Rahane might be having trouble holding on to his place in the Indian ODI team, but is confident about his unexpected stint as national team captain which is to start this week in Zimbabwe.

“I am pretty much confident about myself. I have got my own ideas for the team and my own rules about my captaincy for the team. I will back my instinct on this tour and as far as I am concerned, as a unit we will give our best.”

Rahane was named captain of the team which is travelling to Harare without most senior players – MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma. He will be the sixth Mumbaikar to lead the national team, but has very limited experience of leading senior sides. He had led Mumbai in one T20 match and one List A match.

The 27-year-old said, “I have learnt from all the captains I have played under. I will try to imbibe some of the calmness on the field from Dhoni bhai and from Rahul bhai’s simplicity has impressed me. Steven Smith is an instinctive captain and he reacts according to the situation.”

Have taken Dhoni criticism positively: Rahane

Only days before being named India captain, Rahane’s place in the Indian setup looked to be in trouble. He was dropped for the last 2 ODIs against Bangladesh, and MS Dhoni commented that the decision was taken because of his inability to rotate strike in the middle overs.

Rahane insists that he took Dhoni’s comments in a positive manner. He said, “Dhoni bhai gave me feedback and I took it in a positive manner and I have moved on. The Bangladesh tour is past for me. My aim is to be more consistent in ODIs as it’s all in the mind.

“It is a good chance for all the youngsters to express themselves at the international level. All the players who have been selected for this tour did pretty well in the IPL as well as in domestic cricket. I am pretty confident about this bunch of guys that whoever gets the opportunity will do well.”

Rahane also said that the team is yet to take a decision on who India’s openers shall be on the tour – Murali Vijay, Robin Uthappa and himself being the three options.