3 Players Who Can Replace Virat Kohli As The Next Indian Test Captain

3 Players Who Can Replace Virat Kohli As The Next Indian Test Captain. Former Indian skipper Virat Kohli, announced his shocking decision to step down as India’s Test captain on Saturday as the entire cricketing fraternity was taken aback by the call. The decision came a day after team India’s shambolic Test series defeat in South Africa.

The last few months have been extremely irregular in the Indian cricketing circuit as the captaincy fiasco has had its share of good and bad publicity throughout the world. However, it is now time to look beyond Virat Kohli the Test Captain but it will certainly be very difficult to emulate what Virat has done for team India, leading them in the longest format of the game.

With Virat stepping down and with a lot of transitions taking place in the current Indian squad, let’s take a look at the 3 possible players who can take over India’s Test captaincy now that Virat Kohli has decided to step down.

3 Players Who Can Replace Virat Kohli As The Next Indian Test Captain

Rohit Sharma

The first name that springs to mind after Virat stepping down is that of none other than India’s veteran flamboyant opener, Rohit Sharma. Rohit has been appointed as the Indian limited-overs captain a month ago and he was also appointed as the vice-captain of the Indian Test team for the South Africa tour with Ajinkya Rahan’s poor form sinking.

BCCI has been a firm believer of the fact that the captaincy of all the three formats should be held with one individual and hence, this move of appointing Rohit Sharma as the Test captain looks inevitable.

KL Rahul

The last six months have been a blessing in disguise for KL Rahul. Firstly, he got into the Indian Test team on the away tour of England by chance as Mayank Agarwal was ruled out of the series, right when it was supposed to flourish. With brilliant performances in England, Rahul became the first-choice opener alongside Rohit Sharma for the Men in Blue in the whites.

With Rohit Sharma’s appointment as the new limited-overs skipper, KL Rahul was given the vice-captaincy role in the white-ball formats. As Rohit Sharma was ruled out of the South Africa tour, Rahul was handed the vice-captaincy role of team India in Tests and was also appointed as the captain of the Indian limited-overs side for the South African tour.

With Virat stepping down and considering Rohit Sharma’s frequent injury woes, KL Rahul can also be a good captaincy choice for the BCCI.

Jasprit Bumrah

For any player to be in contention for the Indian Test captaincy role, it is ominous that the player is a well-set member of the Indian Cricket Team across all three formats. Apart from Rohit and Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant are the only couple of players who have a guaranteed spot in the first XI across all three formats.

With Rishabh Pant still taking baby steps towards his international career, Jasprit Bumrah seems to be the third choice for taking over India’s Test captaincy after Virat Kohli’s step down. Bumrah has asserted himself as a legend of the sport in only a quick amount of time he has been in the international circuit and the BCCI rewarded his efforts by appointing him the vice-captain of the Indian ODI squad for the South Africa tour when Rohit Sharma was ruled out. Thus, he can also be a great captaincy material for the future.