"India are very very lucky to have a stand in captain like Rahane. I thought he did a fantastic job," the former Australian captain told ESPNcricinfo.
"It is not easy to do the job of a fill in because you know the actual captain has a got a certain style. So (in that situation), you think 'what do I do? Do I try to copy that style or do I just be myself', and Rahane did the right thing. He captained in his own way," said Chappell.
"I would say Rahane is aggressive in his own quiet way. You know 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 have faith in what you are doing.
"And if you are making the right moves, the aggressive field placing moves that Rahane was making, that sort of ting brings the right behind the captain.
"They (Kohli and Rahane) do it totally different. But I thought Rahane did a good job and had the team right behind him because of the way he captained," added Chappell.