Legendary Sunil Gavaskar has urged the selectors to appoint Jasprit Bumrah as India’s new Test captain ahead of the five-match Test series against England. It has been reported by Sky Sports that Bumrah has opted out of the captaincy role and Shubman Gill is the front-runner to take over the baton from Rohit Sharma, who recently retired from the red-ball version.

Bumrah led India in two Test matches on the Australian tour, winning one and losing one. The gun fast bowler bagged 32 wickets in five Test matches at a spectacular average of 13.06.

On the other hand, Shubman Gill doesn’t have a great batting record while playing outside Asia as he is yet to score a century. 

Sunil Gavaskar said on India Today, “Who better to know what is the workload for himself than himself? If you appoint somebody else, they would always want an extra over from Bumrah. If he is your No. 1 bowler, he will himself know that ‘yes, this is the time I must take a break’. To me, it has to be Jasprit Bumrah only. I know all these kind of speculation going around his workload and all that. Give it to him so that he knows how many overs to bowl, when to take him off, when to sort of rest. That would be the best thing.”

Gavaskar revealed that Bumrah would manage his workload in a better way if he is given the captaincy onus by the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel.

“He (Bumrah) may not have to miss a Test match. If you give it to him, he might know when to stop before his body starts to crumble. For me, give it to him. After the first Test, there is an eight-day gap. There’s enough time to recover. Then, there are two back-to-back Test matches. That’s fine. There’s then another gap. If you give him the captaincy, he will be the best person to know when to bowl,” he added.

The opening Test between India and England will be played at Leeds, Headingley from June 20.