'Don't understand...': Ganguly on Rahane's promotion as Test vice-captain, suggests ideal candidate

On June 23, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced Team India's 16-member squad for the upcoming two-match Test series versus West Indies to be heldin the Caribbean island. The Test series commences on July 12 as India will kick off their campaign in the third WTC cycle after ending second in 2019-2021 and 2021-23. While Rohit Sharma retained captaincy in the red-ball format, Ajinkya Rahane was promoted as vice-captain.

Rahane was India's Test vice-captain for a long time during Virat Kohli's captaincy. He lost the post in late 2021 and his placeafter a series of poor performancesin early 2022 before making a comeback into the Indian team ahead of the 2021-23 WTC final versus Australia. Returning with an impressive 89 and 46 in the WTC summit clash, where India lost to Australia by 209 runs at The Oval, London, Rahane regained the vice-captaincy post for the West Indies tour. It is believed that injuries to Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant also led to Rahane regaining the vice-captaincy.

Many former cricketers reacted to Rahane once again becoming the vice-captain and slammed the move. While some believe it was an ideal chance to groom Shubman Gill, former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly feels Ravindra Jadeja was the ideal candidate.

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'There is Ravindra Jadeja, who has been there for a long time and a certainty in Test matches'

"I won't say it's a step backwards. You have been out for 18 months, then you play a Test and you become a vice-captain. I don't understand the thought process behind it. There is Ravindra Jadeja, who has been there for a long time and a certainty in Test matches, he is a candidate." "....but to just come back and straightway become vice-captain after 18 months, I don't understand. My only thing is that selection shouldn't be hot and cold. There has to be continuity and consistency in selection," said Ganguly while talking to PTI.

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Talking about the Test squad, the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan, Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Ruturaj Gaikwad have been included, whereas Cheteshwar Pujara has been dropped after a poor run in the previous WTC cycle, including low returns in the finale.

India's Test squad for West Indies tour:

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. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Navdeep Saini.

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