Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar has picked Jasprit Bumrah as India’s Test captain for the five-match Test series against England. Bumrah recently led India in the opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar series against Australia in the absence of Rohit Sharma.
The gun fast bowler was able to lead from the front, bagging 8-72 in the match to help India register a comprehensive 295-run victory. In the next three Test matches, Rohit Sharma took over the captaincy baton but India suffered two losses and the visitors were lucky to get away with a draw because of rain.
Rohit decided to opt out because of his poor form and Bumrah led in the final Test at the SCG but the tourists suffered a six-wicket loss.
Meanwhile, Bumrah had a spectacular series Downunder as he bagged 32 wickets at an average of 13.06 in five Test matches against the Aussies.
Sanjay Manjrekar said on ESPN Cricinfo, “It’s a no-brainer for me. The next Test series is in England and Bumrah has to be the Test captain. Rohit Sharma as a batter has not done enough considering the loss to NZ at home plus he opted out of the playing XI because he did not fit in. There are too many uncertainties around him and I think that Bumrah is at the top of his game. There was nothing in the Australia series that we saw that he is not captaincy material.”
Manjrekar noted that Bumrah should be India’s Test captain in the marquee series and he can be rested in bilateral series at home.
“When he is unfit or missing we will think about who will lead the team next. There is so much of international cricket happening. You have to see and pick out which ones you are going to play. He can be rested in the bilaterals in the home series. Pick out your marquee series, and make Bumrah captain in those,” he said.
The cricketer-turned-commentator highlighted that the vice-captain of the team should be picked based on his performances.
“The choice of vice-captain is important, I have no idea who will be. But I know that there are guys who should not be. There are guys who would want to be, but the first thing you want is that the vice-captain should walk into the team based on their performances. There were talks of Shubman Gill walking in as a vice-captain in Australia, but look how that has changed,” he said.
India will next host England for five T20Is and three ODIs.
