'He was fighting for place in XI, now he's VC'- Twitter reacts to KL Rahul's appointment as vice-captain for South Africa Tests

In his last Test series, KL Rahul scored 315 runs in 8 innings at an average of 39.38.

By Arvind Kalyana Krishnan

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KL Rahul
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KL Rahul. (Photo by Philip Brown/Popperfoto/Popperfoto via Getty Images)

KL Rahul has had a topsy-turvy career in the longest format of the game so far. However, what comes as pleasing news to all his fans, the opener will be the vice-captain of the Test team for the series against South Africa.

While Rohit Sharma had replaced Ajinkya Rahane, and was announced as the new vice-captain of the Test team, he was ruled out of the three-match red-ball series owing to a hamstring injury. Thus, BCCI took to Twitter to announce this news as well. With the added responsibility, the elegant batter would look to further solidify his reputation as a Test cricketer.

While it is no secret that opening in Test cricket is arguably the most difficult job, it requires severe perseverance and temperament to excel in it. It would be safe to say that the Karnataka batter has done a fairly decent job at it. However, as he’s now a part of the leadership group, his inputs are going to be very crucial for his captain Virat Kohli.

From a backup opener to a vice-captain – KL Rahul’s successful 2021

Contrary to the beliefs, while KL Rahul has thrived in the shorter formats, he has taken a while to establish himself as a “Test player”. Despite starting his red-ball career on a positive note, he couldn’t really carry forward the promise.

After failing to convert promising starts into big scores, there was a phase in Rahul’s career where he was just struggling to buy a run. Irrespective of the conditions or opposition bowlers, he kept on failing in 2018, as well as at the start of 2019. Thus, he was subsequently dropped from the side. Despite being recalled to the Test team during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21, he was just a backup opener, and was warming the bench before being ruled out of the series due to an injury.

It was only during the England tour in 2021 where he finally made his comeback in whites. This series turned out to be a career-changing one for the 29-year-old as he went on to score 84 in the first Test, and followed it up with an amazing century at Lord’s, which turned out to be a match-winning knock. Thus, he was the second-highest run-scorer for India in that series. Ultimately, this led to him becoming India’s vice-captain for the Test series against the Proteas.

Here’s how Twitter reacted to him becoming the vice-captain

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