Former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has backed star fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah to succeed Rohit Sharma as captain of the Indian men’s Test cricket team. Rohit, who led India in the 2024-25 edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, announced his retirement from the five-day format of the game with immediate effect on May 7 via a social media post. After Rohit’s decision to call time on his career, news of India’s new Test captain has gathered pace, and if reports are to be believed, then Shubman Gill will take charge of the Test side.
But according to Ashwin, who is India’s second most successful bowler in Tests as well as international cricket, Bumrah deserves captaincy.
The 31-year-old cricketer from Ahmedabad has led India in three Test matches so far, and he was also Rohit’s deputy in the last couple of Test series.
Speaking on the latest episode of Ash ki baat on YouTube, he said, “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 senior-most player,” he said.
“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,” he added.
Ashwin, who announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket on December 18, 2024, also reacted to the news of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s retirement from Test cricket and said he had no idea that both of them would retire all of a sudden.
