Who is India's next Test captain?

India had to face a series defeat after 10 years in the Border Gavaskar Trophy. India lost the fifth Test by 6 wickets in Sydney on Sunday and the series went to the home team 3-1. Captain Rohit Sharma has lost the last two series against New Zealand and Australia.

Rohit also rested himself in the fifth Test, looking at his performance in the Test, he is sure to lose the captaincy. Jasprit Bumrah is the vice-captain, but his injury can become a problem for the team. Virat Kohli left the captaincy 3 years ago, but in Sydney he captained brilliantly in Bumrah's absence.

Rohit's ouster is considered certain due to poor performance.

Under Rohit Sharma's captaincy, Team India lost the Test series against New Zealand 3-0 at home. India lost a Test series at home after 12 years. He captained 3 times in Australia and the team lost in 2 matches. The third match was drawn due to rain. With this, India also had to face a series defeat in BGT after 10 years.

Rohit's batting also has a big role in continuing his captaincy. Which is going very bad at the moment. He could score only 31 runs in Australia. In 2024, he got out on single digit score 10 times. Due to which he had to drop himself in Sydney. Bumrah and Kohli captained better than him, so it is very difficult for Rohit to remain the Test captain.

Bumrah can also become captain

Jasprit Bumrah captained in 2 Tests on the Australia tour. The team won in Perth, but Australia won the Sydney Test. Bumrah got injured in the first innings of the match, he complained of back spasm. After which he could not bowl again in the match, due to which India could not even create pressure in the second innings.

Bumrah always struggles with fitness, after getting injured for the last time in 2022, he was away from cricket for about 15 months. It is also necessary to give him rest for 1-2 matches during a long Test series. In India, it is not even necessary for Bumrah to play all the matches to win. Therefore, he cannot be made the permanent captain. Still, if he becomes the captain, then the team will have to appoint 1 or 2 vice-captains, who will take over the responsibility in Bumrah's absence.

Rishabh Pant is also a good option for the Indian team

There are only 3 players in the current Indian team, whose place in the playing-11 does not seem to be in danger. Jasprit Bumrah, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant. Yashasvi is very young at the moment and Pant has become the world's best wicketkeeper batsman in the last 6 years.

Pant has played many match-winning innings for the team in this format. In Sydney too, India had given a respectable target to Australia due to his innings on a difficult pitch. Making him the captain can be a bit risky, because his batting is also very risky. However, if India makes him the captain, then the team can get shocking but positive results like his batting.

Can Virat Kohli also take over the command?

Virat Kohli is India's best Test captain. In 2020, the ICC also made him the captain of the best Test team of the decade. He is the first captain of India to win a Test series in Australia. He did this feat in 2018, after which the team won the series in Australia in 2021 as well. Kohli also captained in Sydney after Bumrah got injured. Under his attacking captaincy, the team took a significant lead in the first innings. Kohli also captained in the second innings, but due to the lack of fast bowlers and low target, he could not put pressure on the Kangaroo batsmen.

Kohli has 7 Test wins in SENA countries, which is the highest among Asian captains. Kohli left the captaincy in January 2022, after which India's bad phase in Tests started. So bad that India lost Tests at home against 3 teams. Despite the lead in BGT, they lost and had to face a whitewash at home from a team like New Zealand. New Zealand had never won 2 consecutive Tests in India before this.

However, Kohli's batting form has also not been anything special in Tests in the last 5 years. He could score only 2 centuries. Also, BCCI has not given the captaincy back to any old permanent captain for a long time. Kohli can captain only for 2 years, BCCI may have to choose a new captain again.