Is Virat Kohli to Return as Test Captain, or is Rishabh Pant to Step In? 5 Candidates Who Could Lead India Without Rohit Sharma

Is Virat Kohli to Return as Test Captain?

With speculations suggesting Indian skipper Rohit Sharma might miss one Test in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024, let’s have a look at some of the replacements that could come in.

It will also put a huge question mark on the captaincy for the campaign. India captain Rohit Sharma is reportedly set to miss one of the first two Tests against Australia, starting in November 2024, which may put Team India’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024 campaign in turmoil.

Rohit informed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that he might have to miss one of the first two Tests of the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy on personal grounds.

“There is no absolute clarity over the issue. It is learned that Rohit has intimated to the BCCI that he might have to miss either one of the two Tests at the start of the series due to a grave personal issue,” a BCCI source close to the development told PTI, requesting anonymity.

Assuming Rohit is ruled out, let us have a glance at some of the big guns who could fancy a chance to lead the Indian team in his absence.

Shubman Gill

Emulating the trend of MS Dhoni passing on the mantle to Virat Kohli, this Indian team might get a chance to give Shubman Gill a feel for captaincy in the longest format and groom him as Rohit’s eventual replacement. At 25 years old, he brings a lot of experience from his captaincy stints for India’s tour of Zimbabwe and the Duleep Trophy 2024 with India A. Backed by seniors like Kohli, Rahul, and others, this could be a good time to take a risk which could pay off in the long term.

Virat Kohli

Any Indian cricket fan would love to see Virat Kohli leading the side once again, especially in the longer format of the game. During his three-year Test leadership, India gradually improved significantly. The same aggressive and daring style that shook even the finest of opponents as they started their march to domination. But since Kohli stepped away from his leadership roles in international and franchise cricket, Indian cricket has moved on, yet fans will love to see their idol wear the captain’s hat again, none other than in a contest against the toughest of the mighty Australians.

KL Rahul

He stays the most viable alternative to lead the team in the absence of Rohit. The Indian middle-order batsman has been the stand-in skipper of the national side across all three formats since 2022. He has led India in three Tests thus far, winning twice against Bangladesh in 2022 and losing once against South Africa in Johannesburg in the same year. He has been one of those dependable captains in franchise cricket over the years. If his experience is anything to go by, Rahul may be a good option to lead the Indian team.

Rishabh Pant

The Indian wicketkeeper-batsman continues to show why he will remain an integral part of the future Test setup. With plenty of runs on board, Indian management can even try making Pant the captain to see how he goes about the responsibility. The ace gloveman has already captained the Delhi Capitals in the IPL and led India in their five-match series against South Africa in 2022. However, with Rohit nearing the fag end of his career, this would be an interesting call for Pant to take up as captain.

Jasprit Bumrah

Hailing from the senior group, India’s premium pacer is an attractive option to lead the Indian team. Barring Rohit and Kohli, Bumrah is the second big player in the group. The ability of Bumrah as a bowler makes him a proven match winner and he can be a potential leader, just like his Australian counterpart Pat Cummins. The 30-year-old has led the Indian Test side once when Rohit was suffering from COVID-19 in Birmingham against England in 2022. Though India did not win in the leadership debut of Bumrah, this might be an option for the management of the Indian team.

Virat Kohli profile

India has given the world many great cricketers, but probably none more ambitious than Virat Kohli. To achieve his goal, Kohli used Sachin Tendulkar’s technical prowess and athleticism, placing him among the world’s best athletes, not just cricketers. The result was that Kohli became the most consistent all-format accumulator of his era, making jaw-dropping chases appear simple and discovering, in his own words, the safest method to score runs. There are many of them.

That carried easily into his captaincy – he demanded more than ever from his bowlers, especially the quicks, often sacrificed a batsman for bowling depth, and led India to an extended run at No. 1 in the Test rankings and their first series win in Australia. He is well on course to being India’s most successful Test captain.

He made hundreds in every Test he played, except one in Bangladesh. He broke records for the number of matches taken to reach eight, nine, ten, and eleven thousand ODI runs and became the first hitter to record 50 hundred in one-day internationals.

A precocious talent with a cover drive to die for when he first appeared on the scene, Kohli won the Under-19 World Cup. He was going to be India’s next great batter as the Tendulkar era closed but Virat Kohli wanted to be more- a player who would intimidate the opposition, one who would raise the level of the game. He lived every ball, fought every second, and made sure he was healthy and strong enough to do so. He is, in general, credited with upgrading the fitness culture of Indian cricket by introducing endurance tests as a factor for selection.

Virat Kohli was, without question, India’s most dominant captain, the centrepiece of every Indian cricket marketing campaign and captain at a time when the BCCI was administered by interim administrators who knew better than to cross Indian cricket’s biggest star. There was never any doubt about his intent, which was simply to do what it took for India to win matches, which they did enough during his term.