3 reasons why Ravindra Jadeja as India vice-captain for IND vs WI 2025 Tests is the wrong move

In a rather surprising move, India named veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja as the vice-captain for the upcoming home series against the West Indies. India will host the West Indies for two Tests, with the first game beginning on October 02 in Ahmedabad.

Rishabh Pant, who was the vice-captain of the Test team in England, missed out due to injury and therefore, a new vice-captain has been picked. On the same tour, Ravindra Jadeja put up an impressive display as a senior player in the side. He scored 516 runs with a hundred and five half-centuries and also picked up seven wickets.

Overall, Jadeja has played 85 Tests and has scored 3886 runs at an average of 37.72 with five hundreds and 27 fifties. He has bagged 330 wickets at an average of 25.16 with 15 five-wicket hauls.

That said, let us take a look at three reasons why Ravindra Jadeja as India's vice-captain for IND vs WI 2025 Tests is the wrong move.

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#3 Ravindra Jadeja has not captained the team or been in any leadership role

Ravindra Jadeja made his Test debut in 2012 in Nagpur against England. While Jadeja has played 85 Tests and been around for a long time, he has never captained the team. Moreover, Jadeja has never been in any leadership even as the vice-captain of the Test team in his career.

Therefore, someone like KL Rahul, who has been a stand-in captain for India in three Tests and was also the vice-captain in the past, may have been overlooked for the responsibility against the West Indies. With Shubman Gill being a young captain, having Rahul as his deputy, who has been in the role before, could have probably eased the pressure on Gill.

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#2 No future for Jadeja in the leadership role

At 36, Ravindra Jadeja is probably towards the end of his Test career. With the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma having walked away from the format, Jadeja could soon be seen stepping away as well.

At this stage of his Test career, there is no future for him in the side in a leadership role, given the uncertainty of until when he would play. That said, Jadeja as vice-captain is only a temporary replacement and not a long-term solution to develop a player for the role should there be a need to bring in someone else as the vice-captain again in the future.

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#1 An opportunity to groom a youngster for the vice-captaincy

Rishabh Pant's absence was the perfect opportunity for India to allow a young player to take over the responsibilities as vice-captain. This would have allowed them to set the platform and launch someone they think can be capable of to take up the role in future. With age and performance on his side, Yashasvi Jaiswal could have been a choice to be groomed for the role as a youngster.

After Rohit walked away, India went to Shubman Gill as a young leader. At the moment, giving Ravindra Jadeja the vice-captaincy seems like a step backwards. This could have been an ideal scenario to test out a young captain and vice-captain together, keeping the future in mind.