Jasprit Bumrah as the new Test captain:- Amid speculations of Shubman Gill being the frontrunner to become the new Indian Test captain, former India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin opined that Jasprit Bumrah “deserves” the position.
The BCCI selectors will have to pick a new Test captain of the Indian men’s team when they sit down to pick the squad for the upcoming five-match Test series in England, which will start on June 20 in Leeds as the incumbent skipper Rohit Sharma recently announced his retirement from Test cricket, having already retired from T20Is last year.
Jasprit Bumrah led India in two Tests in the five-match Test series in Australia a few months ago. In the BGT 2024/25, Bumrah captained India to a famous win in Perth, but in the fifth Test in Sydney, India lost the match and lost their grip on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as well, losing the series 3-1.
Rohit, who missed the Perth Test, led India in three Tests, but continuous failures with the bat forced him to step down in Sydney. Eventually, Sharma brought down the curtains on his career before next month’s England tour, where he wasn’t a certainty to be selected given his poor form in the last three series.
Should BCCI appoint Jasprit Bumrah as the new Test captain? R Ashwin reflects
Ashwin, who retired during the Test series in Australia, feels Bumrah should ideally be the new Test skipper, but the off-spinner shed light on Bumrah’s fitness issues; Bumrah, who ended up as the leading wicket-taker of the BGT 2024/25 and of the year 2024, suffered another back injury during the Sydney Test and consequently missed the ICC Champions Trophy.
Ashwin said on his YouTube channel, “The team that will tour England will be a completely new team, a transformed team where Bumrah will probably be the senior-most player. He is obviously one of the captaincy options; I think he deserves the captaincy, but the selectors will take a decision based on his physical capacity.”
According to reports, the BCCI is strongly considering Shubman Gill for the Test captaincy position. Last year, Gill was named the vice-captain of India’s white-ball teams. He has been leading the Gujarat Titans impressively so far in IPL 2025: GT are currently at the top of the points table with 8 wins in 11 games and look set to finish in the top two.
Kohli definitely had one-two years of Test cricket left: Ashwin
Further, Ashwin expressed shock at the retirement of Kohli, who finished with 9230 Test runs. Ashwin said that the 36-year-old Kohli had “one-two years of Test cricket” more in him, and Rohit could have played the England series.
“There will be a sense of fulfillment, but I honestly feel Kohli definitely had one-two years of Test cricket left in him. Rohit, I felt, would at least go on till the England Test series because there’s a leadership vacuum in the team.
“Tests have been the finest [format for India] in the last 10-12 years, but just for the sake of leadership, Rohit should’ve played till the England series, and if he’d performed, he could’ve carried on and given some more leadership,” Ashwin added.
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