'Ab yahi dekhna baaki rah gya tha' - Fans slam Indian Cricket Board for appointing Cheteshwar Pujara as vice-captain

The Indian cricket board, ahead of the much-anticipated two-match Test series against Bangladesh starting on December 14, Wednesday, announced a few changes in the squad and with Rohit Sharma set to miss the first Test, KL Rahul has been given the task to lead the side, with Cheteshwar Pujara as his deputy. However, the decision did not augur well with the Indian fans who claimed that Pujara as a choice for the vice-captain might backfire for India. 

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Eventually, while many predicted that it might be Rishabh Pant who will be announced as the vice-captain, the Indian think tank went with Pujara for the task. While Rahul led the Indian team quite a few times in the past, the Indian veteran’s role as the vice-captain comes as a concern given that India are already on the receiving end for losing the ODI series against the Bangla Tigers. 

Heartening story of Jaydev Unadkat and his Test call-up

The highlight of the decision from the Indian cricket board was the inclusion of Jaydev Unadkat, who is all set to make a comeback in the longest format of the game after a wait of 12 years. This comes on the back of his continued great run in the domestic circuit, flaunting records that knocked on the doors of the selectors over and over again.

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With Ravindra Jadeja missing out on the series, Saurabh Kumar was named the replacement and it remains to be seen if he would make his debut in the series. As far as Mohammed Shami is concerned, it is Navdeep Saini who will fill in for the veteran pacer and the latter would hope to go well for the Rahul-led team. 

Abhimanyu Easwaran, who was on the radar for a while, was finally called-up and the batter might as well make his debut in the series. India have a fresh setup amid the ongoing chaos and the brigade would look to set things right in the upcoming series. Veterans like Virat Kohli, Pujara and Shreyas Iyer will have a huge role to play in the upcoming series, given that the setup is a mix of young blood and experience. 

As things stand, let us take a look at a few Twitter reactions to Cheteshwar Pujara being named as the vice-captain:

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Kl Rahul is captain and Pujara is Vice captain. Wow. Captain defensive. Vice captain Ultra Defensive. 👏👏👏👏👏👏

— Ruplekha (@surbhihrithikfa) December 12, 2022

people are surprised with pujara as VC . KL will capt everyone knew that

— naq5 (@ntweet_55) December 11, 2022

Now when I think of it, it really baffles me why he was taken off as the VC. Pujara was there in Eng but Pant was VC, now Pujara. I thought they preferred experience but it looks like that's not the case.

— Pranav Nair (@leg_gully) December 11, 2022

The problem is not with KL being the captain. (I prefer pant to be the captain, since KL doesn’t have it to be the aggressive captain, he chokes under pressure as a batsman, I don’t have any hope him leading. LSG he lost the semi by statpadding). Pujara VC is a joke! 😂

— bhuvy.eth (@BhuvyEth) December 11, 2022

Surprised to see the silent entry of Pujara in test team yet again, moreover, he is now our vice-captain.

If you cannot remove him from the team, make him more responsible. RIP logic.#IndvsBan

— Ankit Agrawal (@ankitech25) December 12, 2022

Appointing Pujara as vice-captain is one means to tell him, 'Puji, you're still invaluable to us'. India should do everything in their will to ensure Virat, Pujara, Ashwin, Rohit, Bumrah, Jaddu are making that Aussie trip come 2024-25. With rise of Green & Boland, and Aus showing

— KASHISH (@crickashish217) December 12, 2022

Rahul is captain and Pujara is vice captain !

lol this was not needed. Just give captaincy back to Virat Kohli

— sam (@indoriitweeter) December 11, 2022

Lge hath pujara ko bhi vice captain bna diya,
Ab yahi dekhna baaki rah gya tha.

— Balram Burdiya (@BalramBurdiya) December 11, 2022