The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) appointed KL Rahul as vice-captain for the upcoming India vs Bangladesh two-match Test series, starting Wednesday. Regular skipper Rohit Sharma has been ruled out of the series due to a thumb injury. Apart from Rohit, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja are other injured key players who will be missing the series due to their respective injuries.
In a surprising move, BCCI appointed Cheteshwar Pujara as vice-captain for IND-BAN Tests, ignoring Rishabh Pant who has been brilliant for the national team in red-ball cricket. Breaking silence over the controversy, stand-in skipper KL Rahul said "don't know the criteria for selecting vice-captain".
"Rohit is an important player for us. He is an experienced player and captain of our team. He is someone that the team will really miss but we hope he can recover quickly and comeback for the second Test," Rahul said during a presser ahead of India vs Bangladesh 1st Test, PTI reported.
Former India cricketer Chetan Sharma, who recently stepped down as BCCI chairman, had said that Pant and Bumrah along with Rahul are being groomed as future leaders.
Pujara is just about holding onto his spot in the Test squad and vice-captaincy will be an absolute boost.
When Rahul was asked about the vice captaincy, he sidestepped the issue.
"Regarding vice-captain, at least I don't know what is the criteria. Whoever is picked, you give yourself a pat on the back. It really doesn't change too many things, everybody in the team knows their roles and responsibilities." He didn't want to distinguish between who could have been a better deputy.
"Rishabh and Pujara both have been brilliant for us in Test cricket and have done the job so many times. So we really don't think much. The team wins as eleven players and when we go down we go down as whole team. Everyone has responsibility."
(With PTI Inputs)