File image of Rohit Sharma.© AFP
Rohit Sharma‘s future in Test cricket, not only as captain but also as a player for Team India, is up in the air. Following a disastrous Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25 – where Rohit scored 31 runs in five games and did not win a Test – he has been tipped to retire from the longest format of the game altogether. One such person who believes he will retire from Tests is his former skipper in the Indian Premier League (IPL) with Deccan Chargers, Adam Gilchrist. However, Gilchrist even hinted that Rohit might completely retire from international cricket after the ICC Champions Trophy.
“I don’t see Rohit going to England. I just felt that he says he will assess it when he gets home. I mean, the first thing he will be met with when he gets home is a two-month-old baby that he has to change the nappies on. Now that might incentivise him to go to England. But I don’t see him pressing on. I think he’ll probably have a crack at the Champions Trophy and that might be. That might see him out,” Gilchrist said, speaking on the Club Prairie Fire podcast.
Gilchrist also threw in an interesting name into the hat as a contender for India’s Test captain. That name is none other than Virat Kohli.
“I don’t know whether (Jasprit) Bumrah should be full-time captain. I reckon that might get a little bit challenging for him. So, who that next captain may be is anyone’s guess, really, whether they go back to Virat (Kohli). I wouldn’t be surprised if he wouldn’t mind doing it,” Gilchrist added.
On the other hand, former England captain Michael Vaughan did give his vote to Bumrah as India’s next Test captain, but also stated that Shubman Gill could be considered as the vice-captain and a potential long-term captain.
“I would give the captain seat to Jasprit Bumrah, and the reason is the two performances that India were at their finest in Australia were Perth (first Test) and the SCG (fifth Test). And if he had not been injured, I honestly think they would have won that game,” he said. I’d have someone like Shubman Gill as the vice-captain,” Vaughan stated.
India’s next Test selection headache will come around May, ahead of the five-Test tour of England beginning June 20.
Topics mentioned in this article
