Jasprit Bumrah has captained India in two Tests in the Border Gavaskar Trophy
Former India pacer Madan Lal felt that Jasprit Bumrah is the top contender to succeed Rohit Sharma as India’s Test captain.
However, he also pointed at the pace spearhead’s injury woes over the years as the biggest hindrance for BCCI to name him as the next skipper.
Rohit announced his retirement on Wednesday, bringing an end to a career spanning just over a decade. The BCCI hasn’t named the next captain and an announcement was delayed due to the security concerns surrounding the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 which led to its suspension on Thursday.
Rohit hasn’t been in the best form in red-ball cricket off late as he averaged just 30.58 from the 24 matches he captained India since taking over from Virat Kohli in 2022.
In the series defeats against New Zealand and Australia, Rohit averaged lowly 15 and 6 in those series which led to him sitting voluntarily out of the fifth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Sydney.
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Besides Rohit, Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja, Bumrah is also placed in the BCCI’s A+ category of central contracts list. While the others in that category have retired from T20I cricket after the 2024 T20 World Cup win, Bumrah is still active in all three formats.
However, the 31-year-old has struggled with back injuries which ruled him out of action for weeks on end. Most recently, Bumrah had to be taken off in the second innings of the Sydney Test against Australia due to a back injury. He also missed five matches in the IPL because of his recovery.
“I feel that Jasprit Bumrah is the right person to lead India. Fitness is a different thing, but if he is available and fit, then he is the first choice,” Madan Lal told PTI videos.
Speaking about Rohit announcing his retirement with just a post on his social media accounts, Lal felt that the decision must have been the player’s and not forced by the board.
“Fine, his performance hasn’t been great. But whatever decision he made regarding retirement, it’s a personal decision. He must have thought it through,” he said.
With Rohit now retired from two formats, it puts the BCCI in a unique position among other international teams. India’s T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav is not consideration for ODI format while Shubman Gill, who has been in superb ODI form, is going through a slump in Tests. Appointment of Bumrah or Gill will see India having different captains for three formats, which is opposite to BCCI’s tradition of having one captain for all formats.
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