KL Rahul would have been an obvious choice to replace Rohit Sharma as Test captain. However, the selectors have thought otherwise. Following Sharma’s abrupt decision to retire from Tests just before the England series, the BCCI has zeroed in on Shubman Gill as the next skipper and is likely to make the announcement on May 23 or 24.
Why Rahul was not considered for captaincy
As per news agency PTI, Rahul was not considered as an option to succeed Rohit because he is already 33-years-old. Additionally, the report claims that the keeper-batter’s consistency was seen as an issue, despite KL turning out to be one of the best batters in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
“It is understood that KL Rahul isn’t being considered as an option, as he is already 33 plus, and consistency has been an issue with the Bengaluru player even though he was one of the better performers in Australia,” the report read.
Rahul has led India in three Tests previously, all of them played in 2022. He managed to lead the team to victory in two out of three occasions. While Rahul will be a part of the Test team for sure, there is literally zero chance for him to become captain.
| Match | Result | Date |
| South Africa | SA won by 7 wickets | Jan 3-6, 2022 |
| Bangladesh | IND won by 188 runs | Dec 14-18, 2022 |
| Bangladesh | IND won by 3 wickets | Dec 22-25, 2022 |
Talking about Rahul’s stats in Tests, he has 3257 runs from 58 Tests and averages 33.57. He has hit 8 hundreds and 17 fifties so far. In England, the keeper-batter has 614 runs from 9 matches, and averages 34.11.
Meanwhile, reports claimed that Gill met chief selector Ajit Agarkar and head coach Gautam Gambhir to discuss the future roadmap for the Indian Test team. The five-match series against England will start from June 20.
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