With a few days to go for the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, the Indian cricket team faces a few questions. The most prominent being the place of opener KL Rahul in the XI. The star batter has scored only 38 in the first two Tests. Former players, including Venkatesh Prasad, has been questioning why Rahul has been getting a long rope. With a highest score of 23 in his last 10 Test innings, Rahul's place is under scrutiny as India chase a third successive victory that would seal their place in the final of the World Test Championship in June.

In the midst of this, Rahul, the designated vice-captain of the Indian team in the first two Tests, no longer holds the title for the final two Tests. Ex-BCCI selector Saba Karim pointed out the reason on why Rahul was removed from vice-captaincy.

"His performance has not been great and that's why he has been removed from vice-captaincy. This does not mean that he will not be played in the XI. This only means that you become the vice-captain, when your performance is good. Suppose the Indian team was losing, there would have been no hesitation in dropping KL Rahul. But because the team is winning, and because the wickets are tough to bat on, Rahul will get few more opportunities," Saba Karim said on India News Sports.

When asked, who can become the next vice-captain of the Indian Test team, Karim said: "Several factors should be kept in mind while choosing the next vice-captain. Age etc. because the guy has to lead India in the World Test Championship cycle. Currently, I feel there are two candidates - Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pant. But Jadeja's workload is huge. Maybe the team management is waiting for Pant to regain fitness, after the accident that he suffered."