Rohit Sharma and his men in less than 24 hours start their journey towards an hectic second half of 2023. The men in blue as they are called start their 2023-2025 preparation for the World Test Championships with a quick two match series against West Indies which begins on Wednesday. One of the big decisions the BCCI has taken is to elevate Ajinkya Rahane to be the vice-captain of the side. The 35 year old recently made a stirring comeback to the Indian test side.
The story so far –
Ajinkya Rahane was the highlight for India in an otherwise disappointing finals for the World Test Championships against Australia. The 35 year old scored an impressive 80 plus score and 46 in the game. Rahane, came back into the side after he was ignored for over 18 months due to lack of big scores. Post his comeback he has again become the vice captain of the side for the West Indies series.
Rohit Sharma’s banter with Rahane –
Before the 1st test at Dominica which begins on Wednesday, Ajinkya Rahane was in conversation with Vimal Kumar. The journalist asked how Rahane viewed upcoming cycle of WTC from 2023-2025 and if he can see out the entire cycle considering the batter is already 35.
Rahane replied “what do you mean by at this age? I am still young. There’s lot of cricket left in me”. It was at this point captain Rohit Sharma burst into laughter and was seen trolling Rahane. The Indian captain was hanging around as his vice captain was answering questions from the media.
𝘿𝙊 𝙉𝙊𝙏 𝙈𝙄𝙎𝙎!
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 11, 2023
When #TeamIndia Captain @ImRo45 turned reporter in Vice-Captain @ajinkyarahane88's press conference 😎
What do you make of the questions 🤔 #WIvIND pic.twitter.com/VCEbrLfxrq
Rahane speaks on his goal for the series–
Rahane continued and said that he will fulfill the role that is given to him by the Indian team management and the skipper himself. Rohit, continued with a straight face and alluded to the fact that this was Rahane’s 3rd tour to the Caribbean and has a lot of experience and scored a lot of runs. Rohit asked Rahane to give his two cents to the youngsters who are on the tour. Rahane for his part came up with the need to be patient as well as positive when playing in the West Indies.
Jaiswal and Ishan Kishan to make their debut –
India is set to give debut caps to Ishan Kishan as the first choice wicket keeper and replace KS Bharat. Shubman Gill is set to bat at number 3 replacing Pujara, which means young Jaiswal is set to open the batting with Rohit Sharma. The left hander from Mumbai has seen his stocks grow with an impressive domestic season as well as an outstanding IPL 2023 season. The wait for Mukesh Kumar to get his test cap could be longer. The team management could give Jaydev Unadkat the go along with Mohammad Siraj and Shardul Thakur as the three seaming options for the 1st test