The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday updated India’s Test squad for the two-match series in Bangladesh after captain Rohit Sharma was ruled out of the opener due to a thumb injury which he had incurred during the ODI series. BCCI named Abhimanyu Easwaran as his replacement for the first Test. But what left fans baffled was the change in leadership order. KL Rahul, who was previously the vice-captain, has now been named the skipper in Rohit’s stead, while Cheteshwar Pujara was named as the vice-captain, a decision for which BCCI were blasted by the fans.
Earlier this year, when Rohit was named the captain across formats, BCCI’s selection committee had clarified that they were looking at few other players, namely Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, and Jasprit Bumrah, as future leaders and that they would be groomed for the role. Hence, Bumrah was named the deputy to Rohit when India hosted Sri Lanka in March, the series for which Pujara was dropped. In the England tour, Pant was named the vice-captain as Bumrah was asked to lead India in injured Rohit’s stead. Pujara had returned to the Indian Test XI for that one-off game. Fans hence expected Pant to be named as vice-captain for the Bangladesh tour, but selectors have picked Pujara for the role, leaving them furious at the call.
Here is India’s updated squad for Bangladesh Tests: KL Rahul (C), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara (VC), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Navdeep Saini, Saurabh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat.
“Fast bowler Mohammed Shami and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja are yet to fully recover from their respective shoulder and knee injuries and are ruled out of the Test series. The selectors have named Navdeep Saini and Saurabh Kumar as replacements for Shami and Jadeja respectively. The selection committee has also added fast bowler Jaydev Unadkat to India’s squad for the Test series,” BCCI’s statement further read.