Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra said that Ajinkya Rahane not being appointed India’s vice-captain for the Test series against South Africa might see him out of the playing XI as well. However,  Rohit Sharma has replaced Rahane as India’s Test vice-captain initially but KL Rahul was subsequently named Virat Kohli’s deputy as Rohit was ruled out of the Test series owing to a hamstring injury.

Reflecting on the development in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra said: “KL Rahul has been appointed vice-captain of the Indian Test team. Rahane has lost that designation. I think the doors have been opened that if you don’t want to play him in the first match, there will be no loss of face.”

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He continued: “Rohit is not there, he has become the designated vice-captain of the Indian Test team. But when Rohit was not available and Virat Kohli was not there, you made Rahane the captain, Rahul was part of the team but Rahane was the captain and not Rahul. After that Rahul got injured and Suryakumar came into the team.”

Meanwhile, Ajinkya Rahane captained Team India in the Kanpur Test against New Zealand in the absence of Kohli. But he missed the second Test in Mumbai due to a hamstring injury. Aakash Chopra also stated that Rahane not being made the vice-captain might work well.

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“If you don’t want to play Rahane, if there is no place for him in the first match because Rahul, Mayank, Pujara, Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Pant – if your top six are going to look like this, you don’t want to make Rahane your vice-captain and then drop him, because that just leaves a sour taste in the mouth. This has already been done before when Kohli and Shastri’s combination dropped Rahane in South Africa only, he was the vice-captain – not fair,” Aakash Chopra concluded.