Just a week before the Indian squad was announced for their tour against West Indies (WI) and Rahane got selected as vice-captain for the test and Sourav Ganguly, ex BCCI President, didn’t get that being sidelined for so many months and suddenly one performance got him selected as a vice-captain.
Rahane has been selected for the West Indies after his brilliant innings against Australia in the WTC final. He also provided some great innings in the IPL.
Recently in an interview with PTI Ganguly said on being asked whether to groom someone like Shubman Gill for the role or not?
He said, “Yeah I think so.”
About Rahane as a vice-captain he said, “I won’t say it’s a step backward. You have been out for 18 months, and 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 the selection shouldn’t be hot and cold. There has to be continuity and consistency in selection.”
For Pujara’s exclusion he added, “Selectors should have a clear idea about him (Pujara). Do they need him to play Test cricket anymore or do they want to continue with youngsters, and communicate it to him. Somebody like Pujara can’t be dropped, then picked, dropped again and then picked. Same with Ajinkya Rahane also.”
Ganguly thinks that Sarfaraz Khan and Abhimanyu Easwaran deserve a chance in the Test squad, he added, “I think Yashasvi Jaiswal has scored tons of runs in Ranji Trophy, Irani Trophy and Duleep Trophy. I think that is why he is in the squad. I feel for Sarfaraz Khan. At some point he should get an opportunity for the amount of runs that he has scored in the past three years. And same thing for Abhimany Easwaran for the tons of runs he has scored in the last five to six years. I am surprised that both of them have been omitted but that they should get a chance in future. But Yashasvi Jaiswal is a good selection.”
About Sarfaraz weakness against pace attack, he said, “If you don’t play him against fast bowling, how do you know? If he had problems he wouldn’t have scored so many runs all around (India). I personally feel he has no problems against fast bowling and he should be given an opportunity.”