“Don’t Understand The Thought Process”: Ex-BCCI President’s Blunt Take On Ajinkya Rahane’s Elevation To Test Vice Captaincy

Sourav Ganguly finds it extraordinarily baffling that Ajinkya Rahane has been handed Test vice captaincy after spending almost 18 months on the sidelines as the previous India skipper demanded “consistency and continuity” within the choice course of. Rahane, 35, was out of favour for one-and-a-half years however was India’s greatest batter within the World Test Championship ultimate in opposition to Australia, with scores of 89 and 46 on the Oval, earlier this month.

Just one Test outdated after making a come again, the nationwide choice committee headed by interim chief Shiv Sunder Das re-appointed Rahane as Rohit Sharma’s deputy for the West Indies Test collection.

So was it not ultimate to groom somebody like Shubman Gill for the function? “Yeah I think so,” Ganguly instructed PTI throughout an unique interplay from London.

While he did not time period Rahane’s ascendancy as a step backward, he did not time period it as a practical choice.

“I won’t say it’s a step backward. 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,” Ganguly, considered one of India’s most interesting Test captains, stated.

BCCI and ICC did good job with selection of World Cup venues

While a number of conventional centres like Mohali and Nagpur have missed out, Ganguly praised each ICC and BCCI bigwigs for good selection of venues.

“It’s a great schedule and the allocation of the matches has been fantastic. BCCI and ICC have done a great job to give correct matches to correct venues and I know it is going to be a tremendous World Cup. I know how BCCI organises the IPL, they will make it a spectacle,” he concluded.