Captain Rohit Sharma's surprise retirement from Tests leaves a massive void that will be hard to fill, as captain and player.
With India commencing their World Test Championship campaign with a five-match Test tour of England, starting June 20, there have a few names that have been tossed about favourites to lead the Indian Test team -- Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Shubman Gill are among the leading candidates.
With the BCCI's selection committee yet to reveal a name to lead the squad, former India Head Coach Anil Kumble has backed Bumrah for leader.
'Maybe just for this series (against England) go with Bumrah, and then see how his fitness is,' Kumble told ESPNcricinfo.
'I know it's not easy being a fast bowler. He's had injuries, he was on a break after the Australia series, and is only returning in this IPL. But I'd still go with Bumrah.'
Kumble admitted that given Bumrah's history with back injury, it will not be possible for him to play all the five-Test matches.
In the absence of injjured Moihammed Shami, Bumrah was overburdened in the five-match Test tour of Australia and was forced to miss most of the 5th Test iin Sydney with back spasm. That saw Australia win the Test and reclaim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. This example calls for Bumrah to have workload reduce.
Rohit bowed out from Tests as India's most prolific batter in the second half of his career, overall scoring 4301 runs in 67 Tests with 12 hundreds and 18 half centuries at an average of 40.57.
© 2025