The captaincy conundrum: who will be Rohit’s successor? Premium

Jasprit Bumrah's Test captaincy prospects analyzed, with Shubman Gill and K.L. Rahul also in contention for the role.

Jasprit Bumrah was the last man to lead India to victory in a Test match. Jasprit Bumrah was the last man to lead India in a Test match, period. And yet…

And yet, Jasprit Bumrah isn’t really the front-runner to become India’s next Test captain, a position that lies vacant following the retirement from the longest version 12 days back of Rohit Sharma.

Historically, India haven’t had too many long-term ‘bowling captains’ in the five-day game. Bishan Singh Bedi, the magical left-arm spinner, led in 22 Tests between 1976 and 1978 (imagine that, India playing those many Test matches in that short a span). One of his partners in crime in the legendary spin quartet, S. Venkataraghavan, was the captain at two 60-over World Cups in England, in 1975 and 1979, though he helmed the Test side in only five of his 57 Test appearances.

Kapil Dev, the all-rounder non-pareil, was entrusted with the leadership role over two stints between 1983 and 1987 and Anil Kumble, arguably India’s greatest match-winner, finally received his due in 2007 when he succeeded his Karnataka teammate Rahul Dravid. But historically, India more than most countries haven’t been too kind to bowler-captains.

If Bumrah doesn’t necessarily fall in that bracket, it’s largely to do with one of the more fashionable terms in the modern cricketing lexicon, workload management. In his, and India’s, last Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, the designated captain for the match after Rohit extraordinarily sat himself out of the game owing to form, Bumrah didn’t last the distance, laid low by a lower back injury that prevented him from bowling in Australia’s second innings with the Test and the series on the line. Identified later as a ‘stress reaction’, that injury kept him out of action for three months.

Bumrah has had issues with his back in the past as well, even needing corrective surgery in April 2023. Given that he is the unquestioned spearhead of the attack, no matter where they play, India must handle him with tact, care, caution and common sense. Not wrap him in cotton wool, no, but ensure that he isn’t bowled to the ground, that his body is ‘managed’ to prevent to the extent possible another flare-up of the back. Bumrah, him of the uniquely Bumrah action, is 31. He is a smart cricketer, a strong and deeply invested student of the game who will make – has already made – a terrific captain. But India need Bumrah the bowler more than Bumrah the captain.

There is no guarantee, despite the long gaps between the first and second Tests and then the third and fourth Tests in England this summer, that the Gujarat pacer will play all five matches in India’s first Test outing in the post-Rohit-Virat Kohli era.