Jasprit Bumrah to be denied India vice-captaincy for England Tests as Ajit Agarkar in search of 'young face': Report
Jasprit Bumrah was India's vice-captain in their last Test assignment, against Australia
India's fast-bowling spearhead, Jasprit Bumrah, is unlikely to remain as the vice-captain when the team tours England in June for a five-match series. The contest will mark the beginning of the 2025/27 World Test Championship cycle.
Bumrah was assigned the role of Rohit Sharma's deputy in India's last Test series against Australia and even led the team to their only win on the tour in the opener in Perth. He also led India in the final Test in Sydney after Rohit dropped himself from the playing XI.
According to a report in The Indian Express, Bumrah is unlikely to feature in all the matches India will play on the tour of England as part of his workload management. Hence, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee wants a vice-captain who will play throughout the tour.
"We want a player who will be available for all five Test matches and he should be given the vice-captain's role. Bumrah won't be playing all five matches, so we don't want to appoint different deputies for different games. It will be better that the captain and vice-captain should be certain and play all five Tests," sources in the BCCI told the national daily.
The report further said that the selectors are in search of a "young face" as they have Rohit's succession in mind. Hence, they want a vice-captain who can be groomed as a future India Test captain. Given the criteria, Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant fit the bill. The 25-year-old batter was recently seen in the same role in the ODI format during India's victorious Champions Trophy run. Pant, on the other hand, led India in a T20I series against South Africa in 2022.
The report also said that the board continues to worry about Bumrah's tryst with injury. The right-armer recently recovered from a back injury that saw him out of action since the second week of January until April. He had even missed the Champions Trophy campaign owing to his recovery, along with the first half of IPL 2025.
The back injury had hurt Bumrah in 2022 as well, when he was out of action for almost 11 months and hence missed the T20 World Cup in Australia that year.
The five-match England series will begin on June 20.
