Ishant Sharma India's new Test vice-captain under Virat Kohli's leadership?

Has Ishant Sharma been appointed India's new Test vice-captain? If Bhuvneshwar Kumar is to be believed, Sharma is set to take the deputy's job to Virat Kohli.

Virat Kohli was India's vice-captain when MS Dhoni was the captain in Test cricket. With Dhoni suddenly retiring from Tests, Kohli has been appointed captain. However, there was no announcement from BCCI of a vice-captain to Kohli. But late on Wednesday night, Bhuvneshwar Kumar's official Facebook account congratulated Ishant Sharma 'for getting promoted as the vice-captain of Indian Test cricket team'

A day later, the post had been deleted by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. 

Ishant Sharma is a veteran of 61 Tests, making him the most experienced player in the Indian Test side now that Dhoni has quit. However, Sharma has never become a top class bowler in his seven years with the Indian team, conceding 37 runs per wicket over a span of 61 Tests. Those are not the figures of a bowling spearhead. Sharma, often described as 'unlucky', could scarcely lay claim to becoming the team's vice-captain on merit. It would seem that for his experience alone, he has been handed the No 2 job in the Indian side. 

The decision however is unlikely to go down with most Indian cricket fans who regard Ishant as a failure. Bhuvneshwar Kumar's post on Facebook was met with much bemoaning from fans, with insults being thrown around liberally and hyperbole being used at will to criticise Ishant Sharma. There is one glimmer of hope: Ishant has performed significantly better in 2014 than the past several years, taking 38 wickets at 31.36, including 3 five-wicket hauls. Let us hope that under Kohli's leadership Ishant Sharma can become a better and more consistent bowler, who is not merely a placeholder in the side just because the Board thinks there is no one better.