Sunil Gavaskar criticizes decision to appoint Ajinkya Rahane as Test vice-captain, picks 3 Indian players for future Test captaincy

A year ago, Ajinkya Rahane regaining his place in the Indian Test team seemed a distant dream. After being dropped from the team ahead of the home series against Sri Lanka last year, Rahane went into oblivion. However, he made a remarkable resurgence in IPL 2023, making a triumphant return to the Indian squad for the WTC final. In the first innings, he showed his potential by emerging as India’s leading run-scorer with a brilliant 89.

News – India’s squad for West Indies Test and ODI series announced.

Test squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane (vc), KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Akshar Patel , Mo._ pic.twitter.com/w6IzLEhy63

– BCCI (@BCCI) 23 June 2023

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This astonishing resurgence not only brought him frequent opportunities, but also saw him reclaim the coveted position of vice-captaincy for the tour of the West Indies. Renowned cricket pundit Sunil Gavaskar has shared his verdict on the decision to reinstate Ajinkya Rahane as the vice-captain. In December 2021, Rahane was stripped of his vice-captaincy title in anticipation of the tour of South Africa, with Rohit Sharma taking up the role as Virat Kohli’s deputy. Subsequently, when Kohli relinquished his captaincy after the conclusion of the Test series, Rohit became the captain across all formats. However, the post of vice-captain for Team India was yet to be decided.

And even though the idea behind making Rohit the Test captain was to groom a young option under his leadership, the plan ultimately backfired as KL Rahul’s form declined, and he failed to become a consistent member of the team. Jasprit Bumrah is out. A back injury, and Rishabh Pant falls victim to a fatal car accident. A year and a half later, India, still looking for the next captain after Rohit, is back to Rahane as Test vice-captain for the two-match series in the West Indies, Gavaskar said in his interview with Sports Today. Criticized it. Disappointed with the BCCI selectors, he felt that the move was a missed opportunity to provide a young player with an opportunity to develop into a leadership role.

“There is nothing wrong in making him (Ajinkya Rahane) the vice-captain, but an opportunity to groom a young player is missed. At least tell one young player that we are seeing you as the future captain. So, he starts thinking as a future leader,” Gavaskar said. But who is next after Rohit Sharma? Gavaskar picked not one but three names as Rohit’s successor in Test cricket, all unusual though.

“One is Shubman Gill and the other is Akshar Patel (as future captain) because Akshar comes in fast, he gets better every match. Giving him the responsibility of vice-captain will force him to think. So, these are the two candidates in my view,” Gavaskar said. “If there are others, someone like Ishan Kishan will once again cement his place in the team. That too can count.”