Jasprit Bumrah ‘deserves the captaincy’, says Ravichandran Ashwin

Former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin believes Jasprit Bumrah deserves the Test captaincy. However, there are doubts if Bumrah would take over the captaincy onus given his fitness issues and he might not be available to play all Test matches due to his workload.

It has been further reported by Sky Sports that Bumrah has opted out of the captaincy role ahead of the all-important Test series against England. 

Shubman Gill is understood to be the front-runner for the captaincy role after Rohit Sharma’s Test retirement. However, many cricket experts have questioned Gill’s batting record while playing outside the Asian conditions.

Ashwin said on his Youtube show ‘Ash Ki Baat’, “This will a testing time for Indian cricket, and I’ll say this is truly now the beginning of the Gautam Gambhir era.

“The team that will tour England will be a completely new team, a transformed team where Bumrah will probably be the senior-most player. He is obviously one of the captaincy options; I think he deserves the captaincy, but the selectors will take a decision based on his physical capacity.

Ashwin said India will have their work cut out in filling in the big shoes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

“Their retirements will definitely create a leadership vacuum. You can’t buy experience, especially on tours like this. Virat’s energy and Rohit’s composure will be missed.”

Reflecting on the timing of Rohit and Kohli’s retirements, Ashwin said he thought both players had more to offer. “There will be a sense of fulfilment, but I honestly feely Kohli definitely had one-two years of Test cricket left in him,” Ashwin said. “Rohit, I felt would at least go on till the England Test series, because there’s a leadership vacuum in the team.

“Tests has been the finest [format for India] in the last 10-12 years, but just for the sake of leadership, Rohit should’ve played till the England series, and if he’d performed, he could’ve carried on and given some more leadership.

Bumrah, Kohli, and Rohit will be seen in action in IPL 2025, which will resume on May 17.