Gavaskar bats for Jasprit Bumrah as Test captain

Mumbai: As the national selectors ponder over a successor for Rohit Sharma, who quit captaincy and retired from Test cricket, batting legend and noted commentator Sunil Gavaskar has advised them to hand the captaincy to pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah.

Bumrah is one of the front-runners, along with K.L. Rahul and Shubman Gill to take over the reins of the team from Rohit, but his fitness and workload as the spearhead of the Indian pace attack have been cited as major concerns, which have led to his breakdown midway through a series on several occasions in the past.

He captained India in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series a few months back but had to withdraw from the fifth Test in Sydney because of lower back problems. He underwent lengthy treatment and rehabilitation and returned to action only after the first few rounds of matches in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.

One of the reasons for Bumrah’s frequent breakdown is the notion that he is regularly over-bowled by the captains, as Bumrah plays all three formats. However, former India captain Gavaskar feels that the concern over bowling workload could be solved if Bumrah himself is the captain of the team.

“Who better to know what is the workload for himself than himself? If you appoint somebody else, they would always want an extra over from Bumrah. If he is your No. 1 bowler, he will himself know that ‘yes, this is the time I must take a break’. To me, it has to be Jasprit Bumrah only,” Gavaskar told Sports Today.

He rubbished all speculation over Bumrah’s workload and said being captain, Bumrah could himself decide how many overs is good for him. “I know all this kind of speculation going around his workload and all that. Give it to him so that he knows how many overs to bowl when to take him off, when to sort of rest. That would be the best thing,” Gavaskar said.

“He (Bumrah) may not have to miss a Test match. If you give it to him, he might know when to stop before his body starts to crumble. For me, give it to him. After the first Test, there is an eight-day gap. There’s enough time to recover. Then, there are two back-to-back Test matches. That’s fine. There’s then another gap. If you give him the captaincy, he will be the best person to know when to bowl,” he added.

Bumrah led India to a commanding 295-run win in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, which is India’s biggest by runs over Australia. He also captained India in the Birmingham Test on India’s last tour of England when Rohit was unavailable.

Gavaskar does see Rohit and Virat going on for a long time and playing in the 2027 World Cup.

Rohit is one of the greatest batters in the 50-over game with three double hundreds, while Kohli has struck 51 centuries in the ODI format. Both of them are quite accomplished in the format.

Still, cricket great Sunil Gavaskar doesn’t think playing in the 2027 World Cup is practically possible for Rohit and Virat.

Gavaskar said it all depends on how much the selectors feel they can contribute to the squad. “They have been massive performers in this format of the game. Again, the selection committee will probably be looking at the 2027 World Cup. They will be looking at whether they will be able to be on the team for the 2027 World Cup. ‘Will they be able to make the kind of contributions they have been making?’ That will be the thought process of the selection committee. If the selection committee thinks ‘yes, they can’, then both of them will be there for that,” Gavaskar told Sports Today in an interaction.