Credit: BCCI
Jasprit Bumrah, one of the best fast bowlers of his generation, has reportedly opted out of taking the Indian Test captaincy role ahead of the England tour next month. With the sudden retirement of Rohit Sharma, announced earlier this week, the Indian Test captaincy role has been left vacant, and Jasprit Bumrah emerged as the favourite to take over, but he cited the reason of workload to opt out of it.
Notably, Jasprit Bumrah didn’t want to commit to playing all the five Test matches against England away from home in the series beginning on June 20 after he got injured in the fifth and final Test of his last tour for India in Australia earlier this year. At the same time, the Indian selectors wanted their captain to feature consistently in the upcoming Test series against England, as reported by Sky Sports.
Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant have become frontrunner for India's Test captaincy
With Jaspirt Bumrah now out of the picture, the captaincy of the Indian Test team is likely to be handed to either Shubman Gill or Rishabh Pant before the England tour begins next month. The BCCI are reportedly looking to announce the squad for the five-match Test series as early as May 23, wherein they will also name the captain and the vice-captain as well.
Moreover, the last time India played a five-match Test series in England, it ended up being a 2-2 draw with India winning the second and fourth match, while the hosts bounced back in the third and fifth match. India haven’t won a Test series in England in the last 18 years, with their last triumph being a 1-0 result after three matches in the summer of 2007 under Rahul Dravid’s captaincy.
