Sourav Ganguly, the BCCI president, has spoken for the first time regarding India’s next Test captain since Virat Kohli handed his unforeseen resignation last month.
Virat Kohli, India’s most successful Test skipper, shocked the fans when he relinquished his Test captaincy just a day after India had been defeated in South Africa.
Sourav Ganguly, who had had a public contradiction with Kohli, was quizzed about who will be Kohli’s successor as Test skipper. While the frontrunner is Rohit Sharma, who has replaced Kohli as white-ball captain and is the Test vice-captain, other names – KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah – have emerged as well.
When asked, the BCCI president asserted that there are certain “parameters of leadership” which will be kept in mind by the selectors when they arrive at one final name. He added that the selectors will have a discussion with him and Secretary Jay Shah regarding the new Test skipper.
Other names in contention are KL Rahul, who captained India in the Johannesburg Test and the following ODI series, Ravichandran Ashwin, as well as Rishabh Pant, who is considered as a future captain, and speedster Jasprit Bumrah, who was the vice-captain in the ODI series.
An outside chance is that of Ajinkya Rahane, under whom India have never lost a Test match and won the series in Australia last time defying the odds. However, Rahane’s already under pressure due to his form, and was removed as the vice-captain before the South Africa tour.
India’s next Test series is against Sri Lanka at home in March.
