Doubts over Rohit Sharma’s fitness forced the national selectors to pick Ajinkya Rahane as vice-captain for the two-Test series in the West Indies, sources told The Telegraph on Friday.
Rohit has often been sidelined with injuries and has so far missed three Tests — the unfinished match of the series in Birmingham and the two Tests in Bangladesh — since assuming full-time charge in February 2022. While Jasprit Bumrah had led in England, KL Rahul took up the responsibility in Dhaka and Chittagong.
With none available with significant experience in the West Indies-bound squad, the selectors decided on rewarding Rahane for being India’s most successful batter in the World Test Championship final against Australia at The Oval earlier this month.
Ravichandran Ashwin could have been an option but Rahane’s success as a stand-in captain in Australia in 2021-22 tilted the scales in his favour. Rahane had led India to a 2-1 series victory after losing the first Test.
Rahane’s career graph has come a full circle since the IPL after he earned a recall to the Test squad following an impressive performance in the T20 league. India didn’t name a vice-captain for the WTC final.
The selectors’ decision reeks of short-sightedness since the much of the talk has been on the top and middle-order transition. However, with the likes of Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul still undergoing rehabilitation following their surgery, the selectors didn’t have a choice.
The Telegraph understands the move to hand back the vice-captaincy to Rahane is only a stop-gap arrangement. Having a vice-captain in a different time zone would also make things easier for the team management in case Rohit gets injured or unfit hours before the match.
Shubman Gill was the only logical option available but he was considered too inexperienced at the Test level for this opportunity. Perhaps the selectors didn’t wish to burden him with the responsibility at this stage of his career.
But what happens if Rahane achieves significant success as a batter in the West Indies? Will he be replaced in India’s next Test series in South Africa in December once Rahul and Bumrah are back?
Perhaps the selectors will have to fall back on Rahul to maintain continuity.
