'If the Vice-Captain Doesn’t Perform, Someone Can Take His Place': Ravi Shastri Comes Up With A Huge Remark

Former India coach Ravi Shastri reckons that India’s explosive opener Shubman Gill will be challenging KL Rahul for the opening slot for the third Test at the Holkar stadium in Indore.

Former India coach Ravi Shastri.

Source : Getty

India’s batter KL Rahul has been going through a torrid run for quite some time now. A lot of former cricketers have questioned his place in the Indian team. Former India coach Ravi Shastri reckons that India’s explosive opener Shubman Gill will be challenging KL Rahul for the opening slot for the third Test at the Holkar stadium in Indore starting Wednesday.

Talking to ICC Review Podcast Shastri said, “If the vice-captain doesn’t perform, someone can take his place; at least the tag is not there. I’m being blunt and brutal, I never like vice-captain in home conditions. Overseas, it’s different. Here, you want prime form, you want someone like Shubman Gill, who’s red hot. He will challenge. He has to bang that door down and get into the side. Now, he’s not the vice-captain, it has to be team management’s decision.”

The right-hander has not crossed the 30-run mark in his last five Test innings.

“The team management will decide (the vice-captain). They know his (Rahul’s) form, they know his mental state. They know how they should be watching someone like Shubman Gill”.

Shubman Gill has been in red-hot form as he scored a double century against New Zealand in an ODI earlier in the year and also amassed his first T20I ton later in the series.

“I, for one, always had the belief (to) never appoint a vice-captain for India. I would rather go with my best XI, and if the captain has to leave the field, you’d zero in on a player that can take over at the time, simply because you don’t need to create complications,” Shastri said.

“They will have to see the form, his state of mind. He’s a tremendous player, but talent is only so much. You have to convert that into results and be consistent. There’s so much talent in India who is knocking on the door. It’s not just KL Rahul, there are many in the middle-order and bowling lineup as well,” he signed off.