It came out as a big surprise when the BCCI announced Ajinkya Rahane as the vice-captain for the upcoming series against West Indies. Rahane, who was out of the Indian team for almost a year and a half, made a comeback in India’s squad for the World Test Championship 2023 Final and gave a brilliant performance.
For the unversed, before playing in WTC Final 2023, Rahane last played for India in January of 2022 during the tour of South Africa – Kohli’s last Test series as captain. India lost the series by 1-2. Following that, he was dropped from the team. He made a comeback in the Test team riding on his domestic performances, where he scored a couple of centuries – one against Assam and the other, a double ton against Hyderabad in the Ranji Trophy.
Ajinkya Rahane Was Named The Vice-Captain For Test Series vs West Indies
With injuries to KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, the BCCI picked him again for the upcoming series and even made him the vice-captain.
Usually, vice-captains in team India are young players who are given the opportunity to groom themselves for the position of captaincy. However, in a rare case scenario, Rahane who is 35 years old has been made a deputy to 36-year-old captain, Rohit Sharma.
Sourav Ganguly Slammed BCCI For Their Decision
Meanwhile, ex-BCCI President and former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly was also left baffled by Rahane’s elevation to vice-captaincy.
In an interview with the PTI, when Ganguly was asked whether Shubman Gill a vice-captaincy option, he said:
“Yeah, I think so,”
He added:
“I won’t say it’s a step backward. You have been out for 18 months, then you play a Test and you become a vice-captain. I don’t understand the thought process behind it. There is Ravindra Jadeja, who has been there for a long time and a certainty in Test matches, he is a candidate.”
