Five candidates to replace Rohit as India’s next Test captain

The sudden retirement of long-time skipper Rohit Sharma leaves India with a big decision to make as they get set to begin the next ICC World Test Championship cycle with a five-match Test series in England.

While replacing someone as talented and reliable as Rohit is difficult, India do have some high quality cricketers they can call on when deciding who will become their next Test captain.

We look at five potential candidates to replace Rohit and become India’s next Test captain:

Jasprit Bumrah

There is no doubt that Bumrah is the premier fast bowler in Test cricket and the ICC Test Bowler Rankings only further prove this point, but some question marks remain whether he is the best option to replace Rohit.

Bumrah has already captained India at Test level on three occasions - for one win and two losses - and stepped in admirably for Rohit twice during the recent tour of Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

While Bumrah has shown he can do the job, the knock on the champion fast bowler is whether his body will be able to stand up to the rigours of Test cricket and long five-match series at this stage of his career.

Already we have seen Bumrah miss large portions of cricket due to injury and this might make selectors think twice whether he can do the job with aplomb on a full-time basis going forward.

Shubman Gill

Gill has long been seen as a future captaincy candidate at Test level and his tactical nous in the IPL with the Gujarat Titans shows that perhaps in time this will come to fruition.

But just like Bumrah, there are some concerns on Gill and whether he is quite ready to step up at this stage of his career and take the top job on a full-time basis.

Remember Gill failed with the bat in both innings of the 2023 ICC World Test Championship Final and was overlooked for two of the five Tests during the recent tour of Australia as selectors opted for a slightly different look to their top-order.

While no one can doubt Gill’s class with the bat, his record outside India isn’t great with the right-hander boasting a Test average of just 29.50 away from home in comparison to a more respectable 42.03 on home soil.

One of Rohit’s greatest strengths was his consistency at the highest level and Gill might be some time off being able to replicate this and selectors may decide he is not quite ready for the extra burden as Test skipper.

KL Rahul

Just like Bumrah, Rahul has also previously captained India on three occasions and his record is slightly better than the star quick as he has two wins to his name as Test skipper.

Rahul has rarely let his country down in the past and seems to be maturing as a player in recent times and finished as his side’s third leading run-scorer during the recent series defeat in Australia.

He has experience as captain with Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL, and could easily step up and perform the role as Test captain with ease.

Shreyas Iyer

While Iyer may be considered a left-field choice to become India’s next Test captain, the 30-year-old has certainly displayed some excellent leadership traits as skipper over the past two IPL seasons.

Having captained the Kolkata Knight Riders to a win last year, Iyer has Punjab playing with plenty of pizazz alongside new coach and former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, and could perhaps initial a similar type of confidence should India take a chance and hand him the captaincy reins at Test level.

The negative is Iyer hasn’t played Test cricket for more than 15 months and is not considered a walk-up start to India’s Test side despite his excellent recent form against the white-ball and at the IPL.

Former India coach Ravi Shastri recently suggested on The ICC Review that Iyer may be in contention for a Test recall for the upcoming tour of England and the lure of captaincy could further propel his game should selectors take a chance on the star right-hander.

Rishabh Pant

A more conservative choice would be to hand Pant the chance to captain India at Test level and India’s first choice wicket-keeper has displayed excellent leadership nous throughout his international and domestic career.

Rohit was an attacking Test captain for the majority of his red-ball career and Pant would likely continue this theme given all the traits he displays when at the crease and has shown when leading sides in the past.

Pant captained India for five T20Is against South Africa back in 2022 and has plenty of experience in leading teams at IPL level with recent captaincy stints with the Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants.

A recent downturn of form with the bat at the ongoing IPL might be of some concern for selectors, but Pant averages a more than handy 42.11 at Test level and four of his six Test centuries have come away from home.

--ICC--