KL Rahul on Pujara's appointment as India vice-captain: 'Don't know what the criteria is'

KL Rahul, India's stand-in captain for the upcoming two-match Test series against Bangladesh, opened up on Cheteshwar Pujara's appointment as his deputy on Monday.

Pujara was named the vice-captain of the Test side as a result of Rahul's elevation as captain following regular skipper Rohit Sharma's exclusion due to a thumb injury. The decision to appoint Pujara as vice-captain of the Indian team garnered a lot of criticism from fans on social media, who believe Rishabh Pant was ahead of him in the pecking order. 

While clarifying Pujara's appointment, Rahul said it really doesn't change much because everybody knows their role and responsibility in the team. Rahul further added players don't really think that much and just try to take responsibility and carry on as a team. Rahul also claimed that he even he doesn't know the criteria for picking the vice-captain.

"I at least don't know what the criteria is, whoever is picked you give yourself a pat on your back. Even for me, when I was named the vice captain, you get happy, you have the responsibility of the team. It really doesn't change much, everybody knows their role and responsibility and how much the team appreciates their contribution. Rishabh and Puji both have been brilliant for us, and have done the job so many times. Itna jada sochte nahin hai jo hai (We don't really think that much), he tries to take the responsibility. We carry on as a team," Rahul told reporters in the pre-match press conference on Monday. 

India vs Bangladesh

India are slated to play a two-match Test series against Bangladesh, starting December 14. The first Test match of the series will be played at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram. A couple of changes have been made to the Test squad with Abhimanyu Easwaran and Jaydev Unadkat coming in as replacements for Rohit Sharma and Mohammed Shami. 

India's updated squad for Bangladesh Tests: KL Rahul (C), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara (VC), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Navdeep Saini, Saurabh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat. 

Image: AP