5 possible Team India Test captaincy candidates

Virat Kohli stepped down as India Test captain after leading in 68 Tests and registering 40 wins.

Virat Kohli shocked the cricketing world and fandom after quitting as India’s Test captain on January 15, 2022, in a heartfelt message on social media. It was a shocking development coming from someone who has taken the Indian team to new heights in his tenure as captain.

Kohli took over as India Test captain in 2014-15 on a tour of Australia when MS Dhoni stepped down as leader in the middle of the Test series. Since taking over as captain, Kohli led the Indian team to a Test series win in Sri Lanka, West Indies, and a historic maiden Test series win in Australia in 2018-19.

Fans get emotional after Virat Kohli surprisingly quits Test captaincy

His captaincy tenure came to an end with a 1-2 Test series loss against South Africa and just before the start of a bumper home season. He stepped down as India Test captain after 40 wins in 68 Test matches.

Now the BCCI will need to name a new Test captain beginning from the home Sri Lanka series and keeping this in mind, TEAM COC suggests 5 possible Team India Test captaincy candidates.

JASPRIT BUMRAH

Jasprit Bumrah might be a left-field choice here, but he is seen as a potential leader by the Indian team management and even the BCCI national selectors. He was recently named the vice-captain of the Indian ODI team which will play three matches against South Africa where KL Rahul will captain the Indian team.

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Bumrah is undoubtedly the leader of the Indian pace attack and has gained incredible experience playing under MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli in the Indian team, and Rohit Sharma in Mumbai Indians and he might make a very good captain. The only thing that might keep him from becoming captain will be the workload management issues, given that he already had a brush with a lower back stress injury.

KL RAHUL

KL Rahul made his India Test captaincy debut in the Johannesburg Test match and while India lost the Test, his leadership was both appreciated and criticized. Rahul will now be leading the Indian team in the three-ODI series against South Africa for the first time. He is definitely primed to take over Indian captaincy full-time in near future.

He's annoyed at selectors for sacking him as ODI captain- Madan Lal on Virat Kohli quitting Test captaincy

He has captaincy experience, leading Punjab Kings in IPL for two seasons, and is considered to be part of the leadership group of the Indian team. His good form with the bat and the fact that he is one of the few players who are first-picks in all three formats makes Rahul an ideal candidate to become India’s next Test captain.

RISHABH PANT

Rishabh Pant has captained Delhi in domestic cricket and recently led the Delhi Capitals to the playoffs in IPL 2021. He impressed everyone with his captaincy so much that the DC franchise decided to retain him as captain over Shreyas Iyer.

I would look at Rishabh Pant as next India Test captain- Sunil Gavaskar

Pant is looked at as another potential Indian captain given that he is a keeper giving him a brilliant viewpoint of what happening in the match, and the fact that he is a certainty in all three formats for India and as a young gun, can serve as captain for a long time coming.

R ASHWIN

R Ashwin is widely regarded and lauded as one of the best players currently with an astute cricketing mind. He analyses not only his own game but that of the opposition as well, to plan the dismissals of batters.

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Though 35, Ashwin is still one of the leading spinners for the Indian team and given his leadership acumen, might not be a bad choice as the next Test captain. He can easily captain the side for 2-3 years, while someone young can be groomed to take over as captain at an opportune time.  

ROHIT SHARMA

One of the most logical choices as next India Test captain is Rohit Sharma, who was recently named the vice-captain of the team ahead of the South Africa series which he missed due to injury. Rohit is expected to take over from Virat Kohli now and take the Indian team to new heights.

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Rohit has shown his leadership qualities for Mumbai Indians and the Indian team in white-ball cricket where he is already the ODI and T20I captain. It is mostly expected that Rohit will captain India in the upcoming home Test series against Sri Lanka.