3 reasons why making Ajinkya Rahane India's vice-captain for West Indies Tests is the wrong move
The BCCI on Friday (June 23) named the Indian squad for the two-match Test series against the West-Indies next month. The series will start on July 12 with the matches slated to be held in Dominica and Trinidad.
One of the highlights of the squad was Ajinkya Rahane being named vice-captain. Rahane, who was dropped by the selectors after a barren spell in 2022, made his comeback to the Indian team at the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia.
Rahane has been included for the Windies series as India wanted an experienced batsman in the middle-order after injuries to Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant.
NEWS - India’s squads for West Indies Tests and ODI series announced.
TEST Squad: Rohit Sharma (Capt), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ajinkya Rahane (VC), KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Mohd.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… https://t.co/w6IzLEhy63
While it was a tough outing for India in the WTC final, Rahane personally had a brilliant comeback. The 35-year-old proved his critics wrong as he scored a sensational 89 in the first innings and followed it up with a gritty 46 in the second and was easily the best Indian batter over the course of the match.
However, not too many people are impressed with BCCI's decision of making Rahane the vice-captain. Here, we look at three reasons why it is a wrong move:
#1. Unfair on others
Ajinkya Rahane has not been a part of the Test squad in recent times and only returned to the setup as the selectors were left with no other option.
His selection was helped due his good performance in the WTC final. Whether that should have happened or not is a different topic but as far as the vice-captaincy is concerned, there were other deserving candidates.
Ravichandran Ashwin has tons of experience in the longest format and will go down as one of India's greatest. Then there is Ravindra Jadeja, who has been a consistent performer for a long time now. The selectors should have opted for either of the two as Rohit Sharma's deputy instead of Rahane.
#2. Ajinkya Rahane's inconsistency
Ajinkya Rahane has played some special innings for India, but those performances have been followed by a string of disappointments. This has been one of the reasons why India have been poor with the bat, not only overseas but in India as well.
Rahane has an average of just 38.97, which is quite poor considering his stature and talent. He has played 83 Tests for India but has failed to live up to the expectations that people initially had of him. As such, he should've been allowed to focus on his batting instead of bestowing more responsibilities upon him.
#3. It is a backward step
While age is never an accurate representation of a player's caliber, it is also true that the older they get, their reflexes tend to slow down. Ajinkya Rahane is on the wrong side of 30, and so the decision to reappoint him as the vice-captain is a negative move.
Moreover, the series against West Indies marks the beginning of the new cycle for India. Thus, the selectors should have groomed someone young for the job.