In the Border Gavaskar Trophy, India had to face a series defeat after 10 years. India lost the fifth Test in Sydney on Sunday by 6 wickets and the series went home 3-1. Captain Rohit Sharma has lost both the previous series against New Zealand and Australia.
Rohit rested himself in the fifth Test, his captaincy is certain to go, given his performance in the Test. Jasprit Bumrah is the vice-captain, but his injury could be a problem for the team. Virat Kohli gave up the captaincy 3 years ago, but in Sydney he captained well in Bumrah's absence.
Find out in the story who can become India's next Test captain after Rohit Sharma…
1. Why is Rohit's ban certain? Under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, Team India lost the Test series 3-0 at home against New Zealand. India lost a Test series at home after 12 years. In Australia he captained the team 3 times and the team lost 2 matches. The third match was a draw due to rain. Along with this, India suffered a series defeat in BGT after 10 years.
His batting also plays the biggest role in continuing Rohit's captaincy. Which is going very badly right now. He could score only 31 runs in Australia. In 2024, he was dismissed for single digit scores 10 times. Due to which he had to drop himself in Sydney. Bumrah and Kohli have captained him well, so it is very difficult for Rohit to be a Test captain.
2. What is the problem with Bumrah being the captain? Jasprit Bumrah captained Australia in 2 Tests. The team won in Perth, but Australia won the Sydney Test. Bumrah was injured in the first innings of the match, complaining of a back strain. After which he could not bowl again in the match, due to which India could not build pressure in the second innings as well.
Bumrah has always struggled with fitness, having been sidelined for almost 15 months since his last injury in 2022. It is also necessary to give him a rest of 1-2 matches during a long Test series. It is not necessary for Bumrah to play all the matches to win in India. So he cannot be made permanent captain. However, if he becomes the captain, the team will have to appoint 1 or 2 vice-captains, who will take over the responsibilities in Bumrah's absence.
3. Rishabh Pant Test team permanent performer There are only 3 players in the current Indian squad, whose place in the playing-11 does not seem to be in danger. Jasprit Bumrah, Yashaswi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant. Yashaswi is very young now and Pant has become the best wicketkeeper batsman in the world in last 6 years.
Pant has played many match winning innings for the team in this format. In Sydney too, India gave Australia a respectable target with their innings on a difficult pitch. Making him captain can be a bit risky as his batting is also very dangerous. However, if India makes him the captain, the team may get surprising but positive results from his batting.
4. Too hasty to give captaincy to Shubman Gill Shubman is also in the captaincy race, having captained the team in ODI and T-20 formats. Among the young batsmen, only Yashaswi, Pant and Shubman seem permanent right now. Shubman is 25 years old and Virat also took over the captaincy at around the same age.
Even if Shubman doesn't become the captain yet, the team can prepare him for the future by making him vice-captain. Pitches around the world have been difficult to bat on in the last 5 years, yet Shubham has batted brilliantly and scored 5 centuries. Shubman is also a good option as a future option.
5. Will Kohli take charge again? Virat Kohli is India's best Test captain. In 2020, the ICC also named him the captain of the best Test team of the decade. He is the first Indian captain to win a Test series in Australia. He achieved this feat in 2018, after which the team also won the series in Australia in 2021. Kohli also captained in Sydney after Bumrah was injured. Under his aggressive captaincy, the team took a substantial lead in the first innings. Kohli captained the team in the second innings as well, but could not put pressure on the Kangaroo batsmen due to fast bowlers and low targets.
Kohli has 7 Test wins in SENA countries, the most among Asian captains. Kohli relinquished the captaincy in January 2022, after which India's poor phase in Tests began. So bad that India lost Tests against 3 teams at home. Despite the lead in BGT, it lost and suffered a whitewash at home against a team like New Zealand. New Zealand have never before won two consecutive Tests in India.
However, even Kohli has not been able to do anything special in the batting form test in the last 5 years. He could score only 2 centuries. Also, BCCI has not given the captaincy again to an old permanent captain for a long time. Kohli can captain only for 2 years, BCCI may have to choose a new captain again.
6. Rahul can be a strong candidate KL Rahul had a great opening and batting from the first test against Australia. He scored 276 runs at an average of 30.66 in the series. He was among the top-5 scorers. Rahul has been India's top batsman overseas for the last 5 years.
Rahul also has captaincy experience in 3 matches, out of which the team won 2 times. If the team management focuses on selecting stable options, there is no better captain than Rahul. His captaincy is not as aggressive as Kohli and Bumrah, but he is also not a defensive captain like Rohit.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
