Aakash Chopra questions KL Rahul’s vice-captaincy role

Former India opener Aakash Chopra has questioned KL Rahul's appointment as India's vice-captain under Shubman Gill, arguing that Rahul, at eight years older than Gill, is not the next in line for the captaincy. The selectors brought Rahul back into the leadership group before the one-off Test against Afghanistan in June, replacing Rishabh Pant, who had been dropped from the role less than a year after joining it. Pant had captained the side in the Guwahati Test against South Africa in Gill's absence.

Chopra said on YouTube that a vice-captain should be of the same age or younger than the captain to be a genuine successor. While he acknowledged Rahul's cricketing brain and captaincy skills, he noted Rahul is not getting younger. Rahul had previously lost the vice-captaincy in Tests and ODIs in 2023 due to poor form and was dropped from the T20I team after the 2022 World Cup. He later regained his spot in the Test and ODI teams and is the current vice-captain, though he is unlikely to return to T20Is.