KL Rahul's captaincy is work in progress: Aakash Chopra

Team India’s stand-in captain KL Rahul won a crucial toss and also played an important role in his team posting a stiff total in the second ODI against South Africa at the Boland Park in Paarl on Friday. However, a forgettable second half on the field meant that the visitors ended up losing the ODI series with one game to go.

Meanwhile, former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra has come forward in Rahul’s support. Backing the Karnataka cricketer, Chopra has said that his captaincy is a ‘work in progress.’

“Work in progress. I say that because it might be unfair to compare him with Temba Bavuma but I can’t help myself because when you see Temba, he is also not someone who has led South Africa in ODI cricket for long. He is also a young captain in this format,” said Aakash Chopra while speaking to Star Sports.

Temba Bavuma was tactically superior: Aakash Chopra

Heaping praise on the Proteas skipper Bavuma‘s captaincy, the cricketer-turned-pundit mentioned that he was tactically more superior than Rahul was in the first two matches and looked more ‘proactive’.

“You saw him tactically superior. He was trying to break the game open from time to time. He was attacking with Tabraiz Shamsi. After the drinks break, he got his strike bowler back. He started with a spinner and sometimes didn’t. It looked a little more proactive,” Chopra said.

Despite posting 287/6 on the board riding on half-centuries from Rahul, Pant and an unbeaten 40 from Shardul Thakur, the Indian bowlers could not do anything exceptional as Janneman Malan’s 91 played a key role in South Africa reaching the target in the penultimate over. Malan had added 132 runs with Quinton de Kock (78) for the opening stand, while the middle-order duo of Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram finished the job for the hosts.

The dead-rubber third ODI will be played at the Newlands Cricket Stadium in Cape Town on Sunday and it remains to be seen whether there will be any changes in the visitors’ playing XI supposedly to test the bench strength.