Chelsea remain active in the transfer market after a busy window for the Blues so far, with Enzo Maresca’s side fully expected to add more star quality to their squad before the next summer deadline day on September 1.

Bigger talent than Delap: Chelsea enter race to re-sign "special" £51m star

Enzo Maresca is desperate to bring in young faces at Chelsea.

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By
Ross Kilvington

Jun 16, 2025

BlueCo added both Mamadou Sarr and Liam Delap to their contingent of stars for the Club World Cup, taking advantage of the pre-CWC window which closed on June 10, only to reopen again on Monday.

Chelsea’s best performers in the Premier League last season	Average match rating
Cole Palmer	7.33
Moises Caicedo	7.02
Enzo Fernández	6.95
Nicolas Jackson	6.88
Noni Madueke	6.82
via WhoScored

This mini-window allowed clubs like Chelsea to bolster their sides in preparation for the tournament, with FIFA appearing determined to ensure that some of world football’s finest are on display over the next few weeks.

Chelsea kicked off their CWC campaign on Monday with a 2-0 win over MLS side Los Angeles FC, but showcased their skills in front of a largely empty Mercedes-Benz Stadium, with just 22,137 fans in attendance for the clash.

Delap made his debut and grabbed an assist, with goals from Pedro Neto and Nicolas Jackson making sure Chelsea got off to the perfect tournament start in Atlanta.

The CWC is rather controversial considering the complete absence of rest for these players. Pre-season for 2025/2026 is set to begin immediately after the competition ends, and given the 2026 World Cup is next year, Chelsea players won’t be resting much next summer either.

However, with £97 million worth of prize money on offer if Maresca’s side win the competition, it is no shock at all that Stamford Bridge chiefs are keen for them to take the CWC as seriously as possible.

To lighten the load, Chelsea could add new signings to their squad midway through, with a unique player registration window open from June 27 to July 3.

That being said, if you already play for a rival team in the CWC, you’re unable to swap clubs – so Chelsea wouldn’t be able to register top transfer target and Borussia Dortmund sensation Jamie Gittens.

Chelsea talks "to follow" for Jamie Gittens after player agreement

Chelsea had three bids rejected for Gittens before the CWC in a desperate attempt to get him over the line in time before 7pm on June 10 (Florian Plettenberg), ultimately failing to reach an agreement with Dortmund.

Since then, it’s been reported that Chelsea are still expected to go back in for the 20-year-old, even if he can’t play a part for them during the CWC, with Fabrizio Romano sharing another update on the saga.

Romano writes via X that Chelsea are set for new talks to sign Gittens, who’s already agreed to join Maresca’s side.

While some reports have suggested that Dortmund value him at around £60 million, the reliable Ben Jacobs has now shared that he could leave for £47 million, in what is a boost for Chelsea.

“Eventually, this deal is expected to get done because Gittens wants to move, and they [Chelsea and BVB] are not actually far apart as some had suggested,” he told The Football Terrace.

“We heard €70m or more, but the number I’m told is €55m, up by €5m from what Chelsea originally thought would get the deal done. And it’s not just the number but the structure of that deal as well.”

Russell Martin and Kevin Thelwell both have a lot on their plate in the summer transfer window as they look to build a Glasgow Rangers team that can compete for the Scottish Premiership title.

The Gers have failed to win the title in each of the last four seasons and the new Light Blues duo are tasked with bringing glory back to Ibrox in the years to come.

They recently made their first signing of the summer transfer window with the arrival of Max Aarons on loan from Bournemouth to bolster their defensive options. Lyall Cameron has also joined the Scottish giants, but he had agreed to sign from Dundee on a pre-contract deal in January.

As well as potential incoming signings, Martin and Thelwell will also have to deal with the potential of some of the club’s key players moving on from Ibrox.

Nicolas Raskin, for example, is a reported target for Premier League clubs Aston Villa, Leeds United, and Wolverhampton Wanderers, as they aim to snap him up from Ibrox in the coming weeks.

Why losing Nicolas Raskin would be a big blow for Rangers

If the Belgium international completes a move to England before the summer transfer window slams shut at the start of September, Martin’s squad could be weaker.

The 24-year-old star walked away from last season with the Men’s Player of the Season and the Men’s Players’ Player of the Season awards to show for his efforts on the pitch for the Gers.

This demonstrates the high regard in which he is held at the club, among players, and by supporters, and it is well-deserved following his impressive displays in the Premiership and the Europa League.

Raskin did produce four goals and ten assists in the Premiership for Rangers, flexing his attacking quality, but it was his defensive work that really caught the eye domestically and in Europe.

Appearances

33

12

Tackles per game

2.8

3.7

Interceptions per game

0.6

1.3

Ball recoveries per game

5.6

7.4

Ground duel success rate

57%

50%

Aerial duel success rate

56%

55%

As you can see in the table above, the Belgian midfielder offered defensive protection in front of the back four with plenty of tackles, interceptions, and ball recoveries.

These statistics illustrate why losing the former Standard Liege star would be a big blow for Martin, as he is a combative and quality midfield operator, but the Gers are reportedly interested in a gem who could be a dream replacement for him.

Rangers eyeing deal for Brazilian midfielder

According to The Scottish Sun, Rangers are lining up a move to sign Troyes central midfielder Metinho on a permanent deal in the summer transfer window.

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The report claims that the Light Blues are long-term admirers of the 22-year-old talent, and have been eyeing him up as a target throughout this summer.

It states that the Scottish Premiership giants are now ready to ramp up their efforts to bring the former Basel loanee to Ibrox, who joined Troyes for a fee of £4m from Fluminense in 2021, ahead of the 2025/26 campaign.

The Scottish Sun adds that Troyes are willing to cash in on the Brazilian star and that Basel are ‘desperate’ to win the race for his signature, which may be why Rangers are now looking to speed up their pursuit of the midfielder.

It now remains to be seen whether or not Thelwell will be able to do enough to beat the Swiss giants to his services before the end of the summer window.

Why Rangers should sign Metinho

The Ibrox side should push to beat Basel to this signing because the 22-year-old midfielder has the potential to be a dream replacement for Raskin this summer.

Metinho spent the first half of last season on loan at Sparta Rotterdam and only started two of his 12 appearances in the Eredivisie, in what was a frustrating few months for the midfield talent.

However, a move to Basel in January helped him to kick on and flourish in the second half of the campaign, as he caught the eye with his impressive performances in the Swiss top-flight as a combative midfielder.

The right-footed star played 12 league matches for the club and completed 86% of his passes, whilst delivering two assists, but his most impressive contributions on the pitch came out of possession in the middle of the park.

Tackles made

2.77

Top 10%

Tackle success rate

71%

Top 20%

Duels won

6.66

Top 24%

Duel success rate

65%

Top 3%

Interceptions

1.51

Top 15%

Ball recoveries

6.66

Top 20%

Dribbled past

0.50x

Top 14%

As you can see in the table above, the Troyes loanee ranked incredibly highly among his positional peers in a host of defensive metrics, which show that he excelled off the ball as a screener in front of the back four.

His tackle and duel success rates are particularly impressive because they show that he is efficient with his defensive work, rather than competing in and losing a lot of duels. The Brazilian gem is tough to get past, which is why he is a formidable defender.

These statistics also suggest that he would be a dream replacement for Raskin to take up the defensive responsibilities that the Belgian has in midfield at Ibrox. The current Gers star averaged 2.84 tackles and interceptions and was dribbled past 0.86 times per 90 in the Premiership, whilst he won 66% of his tackles.

Metinho, who was once described as an “exciting” prospect by talent scout Jacek Kulig, posted more impressive defensive numbers than that in the Super League, as shown by his aforementioned statistics, which suggests that he has the potential to offer even more than Raskin out of possession.

A Bassey repeat at Ibrox: Rangers agree deal to sign a new "sensation"

Rangers have reportedly agreed a deal to sign a star who could be a repeat of Calvin Bassey.

ByDan Emery Jun 30, 2025

Of course, the £4m-rated star needs to add a goal threat to his game, as Raskin managed four league goals to go along with his ten assists, but he is only 22 and has time left ahead of him to develop into the dream replacement for the Belgian.

ECB NOC policy also high on the agenda as Oliver Hannon-Dalby prepares to take up role

Vithushan Ehantharajah13-Feb-2025Incoming PCA chair Oliver Hannon-Dalby has welcomed the sudden influx of cash into English cricket brought about through the Hundred sale, and urged the ECB to spend it wisely to address a number of issues, including closing the gender pay gap in the flagship competition.The veteran Warwickshire seamer, who has been elected as the PCA’s new chair in place of the outgoing James Harris, was speaking on the day the last of the eight Hundred teams, Southern Brave, were sold to GMR group. The co-owners of Delhi Capitals, a majority shareholder in host county Hampshire, valued Brave at £98 million, taking the overall valuation close to £1 billion. In the immediate term, more than £450m has been raised to be spread throughout the professional and recreational game.The scale of this significant windfall exceeded the ECB expectations, and reinforces the hope of governing body chief executive Richard Gould that the sale will “recapitalise the county game for the next 20 to 25 years”.Related

• GMR agree deal for Southern Brave to conclude Hundred sell-off

• James Vince: Why I quit red-ball cricket – and others will follow

• Richard Gould: Hundred equity sale can future-proof county cricket for '20-25 years'

• PCA criticises ECB for lack of consultation on Hundred pay increases

One area which Hannon-Dalby believes needs to be address promptly is the pay disparity between the country’s male and female cricketers, which has now widened in the Hundred following 25% rises across the board.This summer, the top bracket in the men’s competition has risen by 60% to £200,000, while the top women’s salaries have gone up just 30%, to £65,000. A difference of £75,000 last year has now increased to £135,000.In the lowest band, men will be paid £31,000 (previously £30,000) and the women £10,000 (£8,000). One of the recommendations of 2023’s Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) report was for equal salaries and bonuses in the competition by 2025.”It’s definitely something we need to address,” Hannon-Dalby said of the pay gap. “By this stage, gender pay was meant to be equal and certainly in the conversations that we’ve had with the ECB in previous years, they said they were going to improve it. And it’s actually probably got wider, hasn’t it? The pay gap’s actually got wider, which is not great.”It’s simply just not fair is it? It’s not right. And certainly, if the ECB have promised that it’s going to get better and it hasn’t, that’s not right.”All we can do is ask and all we can do is try. The women’s game in this country is absolutely exploding and its brilliant to see. Certainly, the women’s Hundred has been an absolute success.”It’s a conversation we need to have and it’s something we need to try. It’s something that I put in my manifesto, it’s something that’s important to our members and something we definitely want to improve.”Hannon-Dalby is also keen to push for more clarity on the ECB’s new No-Objection Certificates (NOC) policy, which will deny players on red-ball contracts with their counties from taking part in other competitions that clash with the English summer.The notable exception to the rule is the IPL, which this season will run from March 21 to May 25, encroaching on the start of the English summer. But the main contention over the new stance comes from the fact the PSL is not afforded the same exception, despite concluding more than two weeks earlier, on May 9.Despite constant back and forth with the PCA and individuals, the ECB has not relented on its stance of treating the IPL differently. After James Vince unofficially retired from first-class cricket to take up a deal with Karahci Kings for the upcoming PSL, Hannon-Dalby sees it as his job to protect the movement of the players he has been elected to represent.”James Vince, as I understand it, has gone into a white-ball-only deal. And that’s not great, is it? He’s one of the players of his generation, a brilliant, brilliant cricketer. He’s whacked me around Edgbaston plenty of times, so actually not bowling at him next year, as much as it might help my bowling figures… for the health of the county game, we want James Vince playing red-ball cricket.”[There is] also a bit of disparity between the people able to go to the IPL but then not the PSL. Just on the face of it doesn’t seem very fair. It seems, ‘one rule for one, one rule for the other’.”I understand there has been a lot of open communication and collaboration with ECB. Getting in the room and talking about how we protect players’ movement moving forward is going to be very important.”It’s probably more the movement in the winter and the bit of disparity around different competitions having different rules. I think it’s probably the main bone of contention.”Hannon-Dalby will officially begin his PCA duties at the start of next month, after being ratified at the PCA annual general meeting on March 4. The 35-year-old, who started out at Yorkshire before moving to Warwickshire in 2013, will be the 16th chair of the association, having spent more than 10 years as a PCA representative.

Derbyshire romp home at Headingley after limp home effort relieved only by Dom Bess’s fifty

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Jul-2025Seamer Ben Aitchison’s maiden T20 five-wicket haul set Derbyshire on their way to hammering Yorkshire for the second Sunday running, ending the hosts’ already slim Vitality Blast quarter-final hopes in the process.Excellent Aitchison was potent en route to a superb 5 for 29 at Headingley and Afghanistan overseas spinner Mohammad Ghazanfar miserly in returning 2 for 5 from four overs as Yorkshire were limited to 151 for 9.The Falcons won at Chesterfield last Sunday, and here they deepened their local rivals’ misery by reducing them to 17 for 4 in five overs. Ghazanfar struck twice early and returned the joint-second most-economical four-over spell in Blast history.In a clash between the bottom two sides in the North, Dom Bess’s career best 53 off 37 balls at least gave Yorkshire a fighting total. But Derbyshire eased home by eight wickets inside 17 overs thanks largely to opener Aneurin Donald’s 54 off 30 balls.Derbyshire were already out of knockout contention, but this was their fourth win in 13 games and Yorkshire’s eighth defeat in 12.Yorkshire were left shell-shocked in the powerplay, which ended with them stranded on 28 for 4 having been inserted. Jonny Bairstow was bowled for a five-ball duck playing back to the offspin of Ghazanfar, who also had James Wharton caught at short cover.Sandwiched in between, Will Luxton was caught at short third-man and Dawid Malan at short fine-leg off Aitchison’s seam.On Thursday, Derbyshire reduced Worcestershire to 10 for 4 and lost. So they will have been wary not to let their foot off the gas. And they did not.Pakistani overseas batter Abdullah Shafique was next to go for 26, caught at mid-on off a miscued pull at Zak Chappell as Yorkshire reached the 10-over mark at 55 for 5. Chappell struck again in the 16th with the score on 97 when he had Will Sutherland caught at deep midwicket following a miscued pull.Bess, who hoisted two leg-side sixes off Pat Brown’s seam, kept Yorkshire afloat with his second career Blast fifty, this off 36 balls. But he fell to his next, caught at deep midwicket off Aitchison, who struck three times in four balls in the 19th over.Either side of dismissing Bess, he had Jordan Thompson caught behind and Jafer Chohan caught at backward point in posting only Derbyshire’s second ever T20 five-for.At Chesterfield last weekend, opener Donald smashed 85 off 30 balls as the Falcons chased 201. Here, their task was much more straightforward, and Donald was in the mood again.He ramped Sutherland’s seam for six and went on to reach his fifty off 24 balls – his sixth fifty of the campaign. By the time that was recorded, Derbyshire were motoring at 70 without loss in the sixth over. From there, with Yorkshire sloppy in the field, the result was inevitable.Donald miscued to point off Dan Moriarty’s left-arm spin having shared 78 inside eight overs with Australian Caleb Jewell.Jewell went on to post 41 not out and share an unbroken third-wicket stand of 73 with Wayne Madsen, who finished 51 not out off 28 balls and reached his fifty with the winning blow – a six over long-on off Jafer Chohan.

كشف وليد صلاح الدين مدير الكرة بالنادي الأهلي، سبب غياب التونسي محمد علي بن رمضان لاعب خط وسط الفريق، عن قائمة مباراة المصري البورسعيدي في الدوري. 

وشهدت قائمة الأهلي لمواجهة المصري البورسعيدي، غياب التونسي محمد علي بن رمضان لاعب الفريق، ما أثار التكهنات حول أسباب عدم تواجده. 

طالع.. قائمة الأهلي لمباراة المصري في الدوري.. عودة مروان عطية وكوكا

ويستعد فريق الأهلي لمواجهة نظيره المصري البورسعيدي، في الجولة 13 من بطولة الدوري المصري الممتاز والمقرر إقامتها غدًا الاحد. 

وقال وليد صلاح الدين، مدير الكرة بالنادي الأهلي في تصريحات للمركز الإعلامي للأهلي، إن محمد علي بن رمضان، لاعب الفريق الأول لكرة القدم، يغيب عن مباراة الأهلي والمصري التي تقام غدًا الأحد، على ملعب الجيش ببرج العرب، ضمن منافسات بطولة الدوري الممتاز، بسبب معاناته من إجهاد في العضلات الخلفية.

وأوضح وليد صلاح الدين، أن الجهاز الفني للأهلي وبالتشاور مع الجهاز الطبي، فضل منح اللاعب الراحة اللازمة لتجنب تفاقم الإصابة.

يذكر أن النادي الأهلي يحتل المركز الثاني في جدول ترتيب الدوري الممتاز برصيد 22 نقطة، حيث لعب الفريق 11 مباراة، فاز في 6 مواجهات، وتعادل في 4 لقاءات، وخسر مباراة وحيدة. 

The Derbyshire seamer finished with 5 for 21 as the Lions dismissed the hosts for 214 on day one

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Jan-2025

Pat Brown took only his second five-wicket haul of his career•MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Pat Brown claimed a hat-trick on his way to a five-wicket haul as the England Lions enjoyed a dominant opening day of their second tour game against a Cricket Australia XI in Brisbane.Henry Hunt was his first victim, edging more conventionally to James Coles at second slip, before Jack Clayton was bowled shouldering arms. The Derbyshire right-armer was then wheeling away to celebrate his hat-trick when Hugo Burdon edged behind to wicketkeeper James Rew. Brown’s figures were 5 for 21 from eight overs as the home side were bowled out for 214.Brown, bowling first change, ran through the top order and had already had opener Nivethan Radhakrishnan caught by Coles from a rising delivery before securing his hat-trick.England Lions reached stumps at 53 for 1 with Ben McKinney the only wicket to fall for 32. Skipper Alex Davies remained unbeaten on 15 alongside nightwatcher Shoaib Bashir (one).Ryan Hicks top-scored for the CA XI with 64, before he became Brown’s fifth wicket. Hicks reached his half-century from 78 balls before Brown got another ball to lift off a good length to find McKinney at a wide first slip. Sam Cook wrapped up the tail to return 2 for 31.

Tottenham Hotspur have reportedly set their sights on Aston Villa forward Morgan Rogers, with Spurs ready to pounce should financial headaches force a sale in the West Midlands. The 23-year-old has become one of the most talked about young attackers in England.

Spurs circle for RogersEmery battling to hold on to starsFinancial rules threaten Villa’s ambitionsFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Rogers, currently in contention for the PFA Young Player of the Year award for 2024-25, has enjoyed a meteoric rise under Emery’s guidance, cementing his reputation as one of Europe’s most exciting talents. According to the Tottenham have been monitoring him closely, viewing him as a potential game-changer in Thomas Frank’s rebuild.

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Despite mounting speculation, Villa remain defiant. Club chiefs insist key figures like Rogers, along with skipper John McGinn, are not for sale at any price this summer. They are preparing to reward Rogers with a lucrative contract extension, aiming to keep him at Villa Park for at least another season. Tottenham are believed to be weighing up whether to make an official bid, even if initial signals from Villa are far from encouraging.

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Villa are wrestling with complex financial challenges. The club only narrowly avoided breaching Premier League spending limits last year by selling Douglas Luiz to Juventus. Just as that issue was resolved, UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules delivered another blow. In July, Villa were slapped with a £9.5 million fine for exceeding UEFA’s spending cap. The punishment came with a stark warning that failing to comply in future seasons could lead to exclusion from European competitions.

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To meet UEFA’s demands, Villa must either slash their wage bill or significantly increase revenue. The sale of a top player would immediately ease the pressure, but Emery knows losing Rogers or McGinn could derail his push for another European qualification campaign. The Spaniard is already working with fine margins after Villa missed out on Champions League football to Newcastle last season on goal difference. They are set to sell Jacob Ramsey to the Magpies before the end of the week.

The ice of Pujara and Rahane could be as big a test for Australia as the India captain’s fire

Daniel Brettig19-Nov-2020Eighty-five years ago an Australian team toured South Africa with Vic Richardson as captain while Sir Donald Bradman remained at home.Officially this was to continue his long recovery from illness suffered on the 1934 tour of England, but also to captain South Australia to the Sheffield Shield. Seldom since then can be found any sort of parallel with the news that Virat Kohli will be missing all but one of this summer’s Test matches between Australia and India due to the impending birth of his first child.Then, as now, the player in question is not just the pre-eminent batsman in the game, but also the biggest box-office draw of his or many other eras. Bradman was the unrivalled star of a much smaller cricket universe than the one that Kohli dominates now. Television broadcasting was still more than 20 years away in Australia when Bradman missed that tour, but it’s hard to think of another player who would have got the watermark treatment, his smiling face tattooed onto the top right corner of the television screen, as Kohli has been on Fox Cricket this week.That bit of branding, alongside plenty in News Corp’s newspapers, has a lot to do with the fact that the limited-overs portion of the tour, which Kohli is not missing, is exclusive to the pay TV service, leaving the free-to-air Seven Network with just one Test match from which to extract its pound of Kohli-hype. As far as the broadcasters are concerned, the early exit of India’s megastar captain is tantamount to losing Bradman, and Fox are taking every opportunity to ram home the discrepancy.What should also be remembered about the 1935-36 tour, however, is that in Bradman’s absence and after the retirement of the long-time captain Bill Woodfull, the Australians gelled impressively under the tactically astute and socially outgoing Richardson, winning the series 4-0 while playing an enterprising brand of cricket. The South Africans, though not having to face the batting giant of the age, were attacked from all sides.One advantage India have by comparison to the 1935-36 Australians is that they know far better the capabilities of their likely stand-in captain: Ajinkya Rahane. Through many matches for India A and a handful of occasions with the senior side, Rahane has shown himself to be a sharp and aggressive leader, even if in bearing and outward countenance he and Kohli could not be more different as personalities. In this, he provides some parallels with Kohli’s greatest top-order batting asset, Cheteshwar Pujara, who in 2018-19 simply bored the hosts into defeat.Virat Kohli is pumped up after India’s MCG Test win in 2018•Getty ImagesWhere Kohli brings instant theatre, combative moments and the drama of an elite athlete operating on the edge, Rahane as a captain and Pujara as a batsman offer an almost preternatural calm at times, and much less of an Alpha “contest” for the Australians to get into. For all of Kohli’s pre-eminence as a batsman, recent evidence suggests that Australia quite like locking horns with him, not only for the scope of the challenge but also for the fact they come out on top as often as not.In 2017 in India, Kohli made 46 runs in three Tests before Rahane took over for the deciding match in Dharamsala; two years later, Kohli produced arguably the innings of the summer on a fiery Perth pitch, but was otherwise more or less tamed while averaging 40.28 for the series. Certainly, the energy created by his arrival at the crease has focused the Australians more than it has detracted from their bowling and fielding. Pujara, meanwhile, has stretched Australian patience far more often.”Every batter’s a little bit different, but they’re probably polar opposites,” Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood said. “For me it’s about not really seeing the batsman down the other end, it’s just about seeing the wickets and seeing where I want to pitch the ball and taking the batter out of the equation, whether that’s Virat or Pujara.”That’s the way I go about it, I know everyone’s different and they like to get in the fight with Virat and they think that brings out the best in them as a bowler, but I think it’s just about treating every batsman the same, whether they have a lot of energy or not, that’s the way I go about things.”Most intriguing on the batting front will be the fact that Pujara will be able to focus exclusively on his preparedness to bat for long periods, while Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc must adjust their focus after the suite of white-ball games that will also feature Kohli. All the quicks plus Nathan Lyon are seasoned enough to know that shifting gears from white ball to red requires a greater application of patience, but equally will realise that is easier said than done without the requisite match practice.”Patience is probably the big thing for me, moving from white ball to red ball,” Hazlewood said. “You’ve got 10 overs in a white-ball game ad you’re probably not always looking for wickets, but you know you’ve only got 10 overs and you’ve got to try and make an impact, so when we head back to that red ball it’ll be patience as the key for me and sticking those right areas all day. That’s probably the one thing I set my mind to in that change of format.”When we got [Pujara] at Perth he didn’t hurt us on a bit quicker, bouncier track, so his game’s obviously set up, he’s played the majority of his cricket in India on slower, lower wickets, and he’s hard work on those tracks to find a chink in the armour. The more pace and bounce we can get at a few of the grounds will be helpful, but I think it’s a patience game with him and it’s just about outlasting him and knowing he’s going to face a lot of balls, and not going away from our plan we’ve talked about. Keeping to that as best we can.”Josh Hazlewood on Cheteshwar Pujara: ‘It’s just about outlasting him and knowing he’s going to face a lot of balls’•Getty ImagesAs for Rahane, the likes of Cummins, Lyon, Steven Smith and David Warner will recall how he marshalled India brilliantly in that deciding 2017 Test, particularly in how the Australians were placed under pressure in the third innings when starting only 32 runs behind. Mentally tired at the end of a long and often spiteful series, they cracked for 137, leaving Rahane to help run down a modest fourth innings target and then gracefully allow Kohli the opportunity to lift the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.Nonetheless, Rahane is nowhere near as transcendent a batting talent as Kohli, and the Australians will have the chance to corner him over successive matches on bouncier surfaces than those commonly produced in India. This applies both ways of course: Rather than a one-off with Kohli in the dressing room, Rahane will get three matches in which to assert himself as a leader.”India is very, very lucky to have a stand-in captain like Rahane,” Ian Chappell told ESPNcricinfo in 2017. “I thought he did a fantastic job and it’s not easy to do the job as a fill-in, because you know the full-time captain has got a certain style. What do I do, do I try and copy that style, do I try and captain the same way as him, or do I just be myself, and Rahane did the right thing – he captained in his own way and I thought he did a terrific job. Aggressive in his own quiet way.”You don’t have to be a gung-ho captain to have the whole team behind you, you just need to do a good job, and have the guys having faith in what you’re doing. If you’re making the right moves and the aggressive field-placing moves that Rahane was making, then that creates a belief in the team. The team are looking at your captain and they’re thinking ‘well, the captain thinks we’ve got a real chance here in this game, he thinks we’ve got a chance of getting a wicket’, so that brings the team behind the captain.”So yes, Kohli is a loss to the series, but his absence will not necessarily make Australia’s task an easier one. Well acquainted with Kohli’s fire, Tim Paine’s team will need to find better ways to cope with the ice of Pujara and Rahane.