India is without a vice-captain in Test matches after removal of KL Rahul recently.
Rahul was the vice-captain of the Indian Test side since Rohit Sharma took over as captain last year Rahul had even captained the side in South Africa and most recently in Bangladesh.
However, poor form with the bat, as he has scored just 38 runs in the first two Tests against Australia in the ongoing series led to him losing his vice-captaincy when BCCI announced the squad for the last two matches of the series.
The BCCI selection committee has given Rohit Sharma the choice to choose his deputy for the Indore and Ahmedabad Test matches as they didn’t designate a new vice-captain of the Indian team. For the subsequent ODI series, Hardik Pandya was named the vice-captain and he will lead the team in the first ODI in Rohit’s absence.
With the post lying vacant at the moment, former India spinner Harbhajan Singh said that Jadeja's consistency with both bat and ball should be rewarded and he should be made the vice-captain in not only the Tests but in ODIs as well.
"India doesn't have a vice-captain. Who can be your next vice-captain? I believe that a player who is captain or vice-captain should be a definite starter in the XI, regardless of whether you play in India or abroad. I think that kind of player is Ravindra Jadeja. I think the vice-captaincy now should be given to Jadeja because it will give him more responsibility. He has been playing really well. As a senior player, he has played for a long time. He is at the peak of his abilities in his batting and bowling," Harbhajan Singh said on his YouTube channel.
"He should get vice-captaincy in Tests. He can get it in ODIs. This is my thought," he added.
Harbhajan Singh also called Jadeja the best all-rounder in the world at the moment across formats and said that only England’s Ben Stokes comes near to him.
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"I don't think there is any all-rounder in the world who is better than Ravindra Jadeja. Ben Stokes is in that league, he is also a big-match player. I think if you look at his performance, his batting has clicked. It seems as if he will score in every match,” he added.
Meanwhile, Jadeja has been in tremendous form with the bat and the ball, as he made an amazing comeback to international cricket after being five months out of action due to a knee injury and subsequent surgery.
Jadeja picked a fifer and scored a fifty in the first Test in Nagpur against Australia and then picked 10 wickets including a career-best 7/42 in the second Test in Delhi. He won the Player of the Match awards in both matches as well.
(India Today inputs)