After Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma announced their retirements from Test cricket within a week of each other, former India cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin believes the Indian team is in for some tough times ahead.
Rohit Sharma called time on his Test career on May 7, and Virat Kohli followed suit on May 12. This leaves a huge void in captaincy ahead of India’s all-important five-Test tour of England that begins on June 20.
“We were in the middle of the KKR-CSK game when Rohit announced his retirement, and then today, Virat as well. I’ve been hearing the news of Virat’s supposed retirement for the last two days, but they (BCCI) must’ve spoken with him as well; that’s a personal conversation I would obviously not bring out here. I had no idea that both of them would retire all of a sudden, as it would be testing times for the Indian cricket team,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
Ashwin also urged coach Gautam Gambhir to usher in a new era. Gambhir suffered a humiliating defeat at the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, a whitewash against New Zealand in Test matches played at home, and a white-ball series loss in Sri Lanka after replacing Rahul Dravid as coach.
Ashwin, who has played 106 Test matches, also supported Jasprit Bumrah, an excellent pacer, to be captain.
“I would definitely say it is the beginning of the Gautam Gambhir era. The team that Gambhir will take to England for five tests will be a completely new team, a completely transformed team where Jasprit Bumrah would possibly be the most senior player. Obviously, he is also an option for captaincy (role). I believe he deserves the captaincy, but the Indian selectors will take a decision based on his physical capacity,” added Ashwin.
Indian Express had previously reported that Shubman Gill is the leader in the race for India’s Test captaincy. It is believed that 25-year-old Gill is the best prospect to succeed him as Test captain, according to the senior selection committee, which is led by former India all-rounder Ajit Agarkar.
Before making an official announcement, the selectors would speak with the BCCI about the matter. The five-match Test series in England will be Gill's first task if he is named Test captain.
It was previously stated that Bumrah, India's vice-captain and fast bowling leader, will not likely be assigned a leadership role during the Test visit to England beginning at the end of June. But since Bumrah is unlikely to feature in all five Tests in England as part of his workload management, the selectors had to look at another option.
