Shubman Gill or Jasprit Bumrah? Sanjay Manjrekar, Anil Kumble pick Rohit Sharma's successor as India captain

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar shared his thoughts on India's next captain, who can replace Rohit Sharma, who is currently at the end of his career. Manjrekar stated that Jasprit Bumrah deserved to be India’s captain over Shubman Gill, who is the vice-captain of the team in white-ball formats.

Shubman Gill played a crucial role in the victory against Bangladesh in their Champions Trophy opener in Dubai on Thursday, February 20. He remained unbeaten on 101 runs off 129 balls, including nine fours and two sixes. He helped India comfortably chase down the 229-run target with 21 balls to spare.

Shubman Gill Really Struggled to Make a Mark - Sanjay Manjrekar

Shubman Gill is emerging as a strong contender for the future captaincy. He has already been named vice-captain in Tests and white-ball formats. The transition to captaincy is expected to be smooth whenever the change happens.

However, Sanjay Manjrekar stated that Jasprit Bumrah is a better choice for leadership over Gill. He pointed out that Bumrah proved his leadership qualities with his performance in the Australia series, whereas Gill struggled to make an impact.

"I've not actually given it a thought, so it's a difficult question to answer because I want to just look at all the pros and cons. I thought when he was made vice-captain when Rohit Sharma was supposed to be on the tour of Australia, that India learned that he's not going to be the vice-captain and Bumrah was made the vice-captain," Manjrekar said.

"I think that was an excellent choice because Bumrah deserved it more than Shubman Gill did, and eventually, how the Australian series panned out, you could see Shubman Gill really struggled to make a mark, and Bumrah was in a league of his own," he added.

Jasprit Bumrah Should Get That Offer First - Sanjay Manjrekar

Sanjay Manjrekar said that Jasprit Bumrah should be given the first opportunity to captain India. He emphasized that concerns over Bumrah’s fitness should not be a deciding factor, as he doesn’t need to lead in every ODI.

"I've started thinking, I think Bumrah should get that offer first. And whenever—forget about Bumrah's fitness, whether he's going to be fit—he doesn't have to captain every one-day match that India plays. When he's available, I think Bumrah should get that privilege," Manjrekar said.

Jasprit Bumrah Will Become the Natural Choice - Anil Kumble

In the same conversation, Anil Kumble said that Shubman Gill is already part of India's leadership group and will eventually become captain. However, he added that Jasprit Bumrah is the natural successor to Rohit Sharma in both Test and ODI formats, and Gill is not far behind in the captaincy race.

"I think Shubman should certainly—he's already in the leadership group, and eventually, he'll get to that captaincy, whether it is immediately after Rohit leaves one-day cricket or if Bumrah comes in, which is the automatic choice for both Test match cricket and the ODI format because you hardly play ODIs now. I think Bumrah will become the natural choice, but Shubman won't be far behind," Anil Kumble said.

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