KL Rahul was appointed as India Test vice-captain from Afghanistan one-off Test onwards.
Aakash Chopra, a former India cricketer, has questioned the BCCI selection committee’s decision to make KL Rahul the vice-captain of India’s Test team. He replaced Rishabh Pant in the position, who had been the deputy to Shubman Gill till the South Africa Test series at home.
A fan had queried Aakash Chopra on his YouTube channel, and the ex-opener pointed out that a vice-captain should either be of the same age as the captain or younger. He stated that Rahul will not succeed Gill as captain of India because the former is about eight years older than the captain.
"I am with you on this one. I have never thought from that perspective. You think about a vice-captain from what perspective? That he is next in line, that if the captain goes, the second one will come, but the second should either be of the same age or younger.
If you are making a vice-captain who is eight years older than the captain, as good as KL Rahul is, he is a good captaincy candidate; he has got a good cricketing brain, but he is not getting younger. If he is doing the vice-captaincy for a 26-year-old captain, he is not the next in line. That is the reality," Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
The change in vice-captaincy was announced when India released the squad for the one-off Test against Afghanistan.
"I mean, KL's been Test captain before. Yeah, I mean obviously Rishabh was vice-captain, and we want him to be the best batter that he can be and that he's always been in Test cricket. So, no, there's no other reason.
Futuristic, I mean, that's the best option we think at this point that we have as far as a vice-captain with experience, in case we saw during the South Africa series as well when Shubman got injured, and KL provided us with the necessary experience that you need in case the situation arises. Plus, you know he's obviously had a really good tour of England and against the West Indies and lots of experience,” BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar had said about the appointment.
KL Rahul has captained India before as well, leading India to a 2-0 Test series win over Bangladesh.