India won the second match against Australia by 6 wickets, Men in Blue has now led by 2-0 against Pat Cummins-led side in the Border Gavaskar Trophy. Indian star opener KL Rahul was not given the vice-captain tag by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) after the last two test match squad was announced.
Former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh shared his blunt view on this, he said that Rahul is removed from the VC post as he may be replaced in playing 11 for coming test matches.
Indian top-order batter Rahul has been struggling with form, he has gone a past score of 25 just once in 11 test match innings. In the recent announcement by BCCI for the team of the last two test matches, the right-hand batter Rahul was removed from the VC post, and off-spinner Singh has speculated that young batter Shubman Gill is replacing him in the playing 11.
Harbhajan Singh thinks that Rahul may be replaced by Gill in the third test match
“Yes because he is longer the vice-captain now. The team was just announced now and I feel the reason why he hasn’t been named the vice-captain is because Shubman Gill will be picked for the next match over KL Rahul. Gill has been in terrific form of late, in ODIs and T20Is.
“He became the super hero and I feel he will definitely get the chance. Also for Rahul, his dismissal today clearly shows that he is going through a rough time. He has a lot of quality and his a big player but his numbers could have been a lot better,” said former Indian cricketer Singh.
The 23-year-old batter, Gill was in top form in limited-overs cricket for India, he also scored a 100 against Bangladesh in test matches in December last year. In the recently concluded ODI series against New Zealand, the young lad from Punjab became the youngest to score a double hundred in a 50-over format.
“I consider him as one of the top batters in world cricket, let alone the Indian team. I think it will be good for KL Rahul to take come time off and play some domestic cricket, try and score runs and get his confidence back up. Then bring him back, he is a quality player, there’s no doubt about it,” concluded Indian veteran Harbhajan.
Since 2017, Rahul has just 1204 runs in 48 innings. Former Indian cricketer Venkatesh Prasad lashes out at team management for the selection of the 30-year-old Rahul in playing 11.
Indian opening batter Rahul was dismissed by Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon in both innings of the Delhi game for 17 & 1 runs. BCCI released no statement on Rahul’s exclusion from the VC post but the ‘VC’ tag was missing from his name.