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India faced series defeat in the Border Gavaskar Trophy after 10 years. India lost the fifth Test by 6 wickets in Sydney on Sunday and the series went to the home team 3-1. Captain Rohit Sharma has lost both the previous series against New Zealand and Australia.
Rohit also gave himself rest in the fifth test, considering his performance in the test, his captaincy is certain to be lost. Jasprit Bumrah is the vice captain, but his injury can become a problem for the team. Virat Kohli left the captaincy 3 years ago, but in Sydney he captained well in the absence of Bumrah.
Know in the story who can become India’s next Test captain after Rohit Sharma…
1. Why is it certain for Rohit to be out? Under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, Team India lost the Test series against New Zealand 3-0 at home. India had 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 also had to face series defeat in BGT after 10 years.
His batting also plays the biggest role in continuing Rohit’s captaincy. Which is going very bad at the moment. He could score only 31 runs in Australia. In 2024, he was out on single digit scores 10 times. Due to which he had to drop himself in Sydney. Bumrah and Kohli captained him better than him, so it is very difficult for Rohit to remain the Test captain.
2. What is the problem in Bumrah becoming the captain? Jasprit Bumrah captained in 2 tests on Australia tour. The team won in Perth, but the Sydney Test was won by Australia. Bumrah got injured in the first innings of the match itself, he complained of back spasm. After which he could not bowl again in the match, due to which India could not even create pressure in the second innings.
Bumrah has always struggled with fitness, after being injured for the last time in 2022, he was away from cricket for about 15 months. It is also necessary to give him rest of 1-2 matches during a long test series. In India, it is not necessary for Bumrah to play all the matches to win. Therefore he cannot be made the permanent captain. Still, if he becomes the captain, then the team will have to appoint 1 or 2 vice captains, who will handle the responsibilities in the absence of Bumrah.
3. Rishabh Pant is the permanent performer of the Test team. There are only 3 players in the current Indian team, whose place in the playing-11 does not seem to be in danger. Jasprit Bumrah, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant. Yashasvi is very young at the moment and Pant has become the best wicketkeeper batsman in the world in the last 6 years.
Pant has played many match-winning innings for the team in this format. Even in Sydney, India had given a respectable target to Australia with his innings on a difficult pitch. Making him captain can be a bit risky because his batting is also very risky. However, if India makes him the captain, then the team can get shocking but positive results like his batting.
4. It is too early to give captaincy to Shubman Gill Shubman is also in the race for captaincy, he has captained the team in ODI and T-20 formats. Among the young batsmen, only Yashasvi, Pant and Shubman seem permanent at present. Shubman is 25 years old and at around the same age Virat also took over the captaincy.
Even if Shubman does not become the captain yet, the team can prepare him for the future by making him the vice-captain. In the last 5 years, the pitches around the world have been difficult for batting, despite this, Shubman has batted brilliantly and scored 5 centuries. Shubman is also a good option as a future option.
5. Will Kohli take command again? Virat Kohli is India’s best test captain. In 2020, ICC also made him the captain of the best Test team of the decade. He is the first captain of India to win a Test series in Australia. He achieved this feat in 2018, after this the team won the series in Australia in 2021 also. After Bumrah got injured, Kohli also captained in Sydney. Under his attacking captaincy the team took a significant lead in the first innings. Kohli also captained the team in the second innings, but due to the fast bowlers and low target, he could not put pressure on the Kangaroo batsmen.
Kohli has 7 Test wins in SENA countries, which is the most among captains in Asia. Kohli left the captaincy in January 2022, after which India’s bad phase in Tests started. So bad that India lost tests at home against 3 teams. Despite the lead in BGT, it lost and had to face a whitewash at home against a team like New Zealand. New Zealand had never before won even two consecutive Tests in India.
However, Kohli too has not been anything special in the batting form test in the last 5 years. He could score only 2 centuries. Also, BCCI has not given captaincy again to any 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 become a strong candidate KL Rahul did excellent opening and batting right from the first test against Australia. He scored 276 runs in the series at an average of 30.66. He was included in the top-5 scorers. Rahul has been India’s top batsman abroad for the last 5 years.
Rahul also has the experience of captaining in 3 matches, out of which the team won 2 times. If the team management focuses on choosing stable options, then there is no better captain than Rahul. His captaincy is not as attacking as that of Kohli and Bumrah, but he is also not as defensive a captain as Rohit. Bets can be played on Rahul in the Test.
