Former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has opined that Jasprit Bumrah should be the next Test captain if Rohit Sharma decides to stay as white-ball captain of the team. Harbhajan further cited Kapil Dev as an example and stated that a match-winning bowler like Bumrah can lead the team well.

India suffered a harrowing 1-2 defeat against South Africa in the three-match Test series, and a day after the series loss, Virat Kohli shocked the entire cricket fraternity with his decision to quit the captaincy role in the red-ball format. Kohli had earlier relinquished the T20I captaincy after the T20 World Cup 2021 and was later sacked from the ODI leadership role. 

The BCCI are yet to announce India’s next Test captain, and the governing body is expected to appoint the new skipper ahead of the red-ball series against Sri Lanka in February. India white-ball captain, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, and Jasprit Bumrah are the frontrunners to succeed Kohli as Test captain.

Meanwhile, Harbhajan Singh has stated that if Rohit Sharma declines the offer, Jasprit Bumrah should lead the Indian Test team.

“According to me, Rohit should be the captain of all three formats. If he is totally fit then he should captain all three formats. If Rohit feels that he doesn’t want to captain all three formats. Then in Test cricket, I am on Bumrah’s side. He should be given the captaincy because a fast bowler is always thought that they think too big,” Harbhajan told Sports Tak.

The former Indian further cited Kapil Dev as an example, and stated that a match-winning bowler like Bumrah has the ability to lead the team in the longer format of the game.

“Kapil Dev was also a bowler. Why can’t a bowler be captain? I want to know this. Among match-winners in Team India, Bumrah is better than them. How many matches Bumrah has won us, probably only one bowler has done that. So Bumrah for Test cricket captaincy if Rohit is not available,” he added.