Rahul will be India’s third different wicketkeeper in Test cricket in 2023 after Rishabh Pant was ruled out for more than a year following his car crash in late 2022. KS Bharat was initially chosen as his deputy, keeping wicket in all four of India’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy Tests as well as in the World Test Championship final at The Oval. Following a run of eight innings without a fifty, Bharat was dropped for Ishan Kishan who impressed with the bat on the subsequent tour of the Caribbean.

Kishan was the incumbent heading into the upcoming two-Test series in South Africa but pulled out of the tour for personal reasons with Bharat recalled in his stead.

Rahul, who is set to take the gloves for the South Africa series, has considerable experience keeping wicket for India in limited overs cricket but has never performed the role in the Test arena. In fact, he has kept wicket just once in first-class cricket.

Following Dravid all but confirming that Rahul would take the gloves against South Africa, Patel, who kept wicket for India 25 times for India in Test cricket between 2002 and 2018, expressed his disapproval at the decision. “India’s Test match wicketkeeper should be someone who is keeping regularly in Ranji Trophy or first-class cricket,” he wrote on X, the platform formerly called Twitter.

Although Rahul has had a quiet couple of years in Test cricket, he is still regarded as a superior batter to Bharat and his selection, in theory at least, should strengthen India’s batting. India are likely to field a top six of Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and Rahul. They have never previously won a Test series in South Africa.