The selection committee of the BCCI has been blasted for the picking Cheteshwar Pujara as the vice-captain for the impending two-match Test series against Bangladesh, ahead of Rishabh Pant after KL Rahul was made the skipper in place of injured Rohit Sharma, who has been ruled out of the opening match in Chattogram. However, Rahul broke his silence on the “criteria” for picking vice-captain, hence explaining Pujara's selection ahead of Pant.
Pant was among the list of players along with Jasprit Bumrah and Rahul who were to be groomed as future India leaders under Rohit's captaincy. Pujara was not even in the radar, and had in fact been dropped for the home series against Sri Lanka in March before making a comeback to the India XI for the one-off game in England where Pant was the deputy to Bumrah.
The decision made by BCCI on Sunday was slammed and called “ridiculous” by fans on Twitter who felt Pant was ahead in the order. However, Rahul clarified that such decisions does not change the responsibility a player has in the team, before admitting that he as well is not aware of the criteria for picking the vice-captain.
“I at least don't know what the criteria is, whoever is picked you give yourself a pat on your back. Even for me, when I was named the vice captain, you get happy, you have the responsibility of the team. It really doesn't change much, everybody knows their role and responsibility and how much the team appreciates their contribution. Rishabh and Puji both have been brilliant for us, and have done the job so many times. Itna jada sochte nahin hai jo hai (We don't really think that much), he tries to take the responsibility. We carry on as a team,” he said in the pre-match press conference on Monday in Chattogram.
{{/usCountry}}“I at least don't know what the criteria is, whoever is picked you give yourself a pat on your back. Even for me, when I was named the vice captain, you get happy, you have the responsibility of the team. It really doesn't change much, everybody knows their role and responsibility and how much the team appreciates their contribution. Rishabh and Puji both have been brilliant for us, and have done the job so many times. Itna jada sochte nahin hai jo hai (We don't really think that much), he tries to take the responsibility. We carry on as a team,” he said in the pre-match press conference on Monday in Chattogram.
{{/usCountry}}The Test series will begin from December 14 onwards while the second Test will be played on December 22 in Mirpur.
Meanwhile, Rohit was replaced by Abhimanyu Easwaran. And, Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja, who are still recovering from their injuries, have been replaced by Saurabh Kumar and Navdeep Saini, Jaydev Unadkat has also been added to the squad.