Jasprit Bumrah Lost Test Captaincy Race Due To “Hardik Pandya Yardstick”, New Candidate Emerges

As the Test captaincy transition in the Indian team keeps everyone guessing, plenty of opinions have surfaced on the candidates, primarily Jasprit Bumrah and Shubman Gill. Bumrah looked like the natural successor as Rohit Sharma said goodbye to the format but those in the know, feel Gill is being considered as a better canddiate due to the pacer’s workload issue and injury troubles. Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar, sharing his opinion on the Test captaincy situation, feels Bumrah lost No. 1 Test captaincy candidate spot because of the same reason that saw Hardik Pandya being overlooked for India’s T20I captaincy — injuries and workload.

“The yardstick which was taken for Hardik Pandya when Suryakumar was named T20I captain…the reasoning there was that Hardik has fitness issues, he may not be available. Hence, we are looking at a player who is guaranteed a place in the playing XI. That’s how Surya was elevated to the T20I captaincy. Now, if we equate that thought process with Test captaincy as well, on that basis, Jasprit may have to miss out,” he said.

While Gill seems to have sealed the debate and unofficially already claimed the Test captaincy spot, as Rohit’s successor, Bangar has urged the BCCI not to rush into a decision and consider ‘proven performer’ KL Rahul for the role.

“He’s been a proven test battle, a lot of important runs at the top of the order for India. So he would play all the Test matches, and most of his hundreds or big scores have come in overseas matches. So there is no question mark on his ability in any conditions, for that matter. And he is young, he is not that old either. So when you are looking at a WTC cycle, it is a two-year cycle. I think Rahul at the moment is 31, 32. He can clearly play the entire cycle,” he added.

Bangar feels Rahul fits the bill perfectly as far as the current Test captaincy situation goes, while Gill can be groomed into a future leader.

“You would be mistaken if you were thinking really long term. Gill’s quite young. He’s got loads of cricket ahead of him, and he would also have attained that self-belief in his ability by doing well overseas. So that is a challenge for him to be doing that on a consistent basis. So he’s your long-term prospect, no doubt. But whether you want to elevate him immediately, I don’t really think that there is a reason to do that because you have KL Rahul. He has captained India in the past when Virat gave up captaincy in South Africa. I think he captained one of the best matches, and he’s a guaranteed starter at the top of the order. So that is the reason I believe that, yes, you can think long term after the next WTC cycle. By that time, I think Shubman Gill would have established his credentials in a much more solid way, and he would have plenty of experience behind him,” he explained.