Virat Kohli handed over the Test captaincy to India after Australia’s scare. The next World Trade Center cycle is fixed!!

The Indian Test team is going through a period of transition with abandon. One of the top players in their thirties. At such an important juncture, it remains to be seen who will become India’s next Test captain after Rohit Sharma.

Currently, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are believed to be the candidates for the role. While Kohli has already captained India in the past, Bumrah is currently the vice-captain of the team. Cricket greats like Adam Gilchrist and Michael Vaughan. They shared their opinions on this topic.

While Gilchrist backed Kohli to become India’s captain again, Vaughan had different views and called for Bumrah to take over the role of India’s Test captain. However, Rohit Sharma is yet to leave the format and remains India’s official Test captain.

Read also: Virat Kohli’s retirement threat sent BCCI and Indian cricket into Australia

Adam Gilchrist backs Virat Kohli as India’s next Test captain

While speaking on the Club Prairie Fire Podcast, Adam Gilchrist expressed his doubts about Jasprit Bumrah’s injury concerns and feels Kohli would be better suited to the role. Bumrah has a history of injuries and his unavailability could impact India in crucial match situations.

“I don’t know if (Jasprit) Bumrah should be a full-time captain. I think it might be a bit challenging for him. So, it’s anyone’s guess who the next captain will be, really, whether he will go back to Virat or not.” “I wouldn’t be surprised if he wouldn’t mind doing it,” Gilchrist said.

Jasprit Bumrah took over as India captain in the absence of Rohit Sharma, who dropped himself for the fifth Test in Sydney due to poor form. However, Bumrah had to leave the field midway through after suffering back spasms.

Virat Kohli led India in Bumrah’s absence in the second half of the match. The Men in Blue were missing their first fast bowler and eventually lost the match by 6 wickets in the end to concede the series 1-3 to the hosts.

Michael Vaughan supports Jasprit Bumrah

While Adam Gilchrist has backed Virat Kohli, Michael Vaughan feels India should appoint Jasprit Bumrah as their next Test captain. According to Vaughan, India were at their best under Bumrah in the Perth Test and even claimed they would have won had Bumrah been available for the final innings in Sydney.

“I will give the captain’s seat to Jasprit Bumrah, the reason is that the two performances India had at their best in Australia were in Perth (first Test) and SCG (fifth Test). If he had not been injured (in Sydney), I honestly think they would have won that match, Vaughan pointed out.

Vaughan also called on India to groom Shubman Gill as India’s vice-captain so that he can be groomed for the leadership role. However, Gill’s performance in red-ball cricket has declined over the past few years.

Virat Kohli has scored as India’s Test captain

Virat Kohli is India’s most successful Test captain having led the team in 40 out of 68 matches. India’s win percentage under his leadership was 58.82%. Under his leadership, India won the historic Test series against Australia in 2018 and became the first Asian team to win a Test series in Australia.

However, he ceded the lead role in January 2022 to Rohit Sharma. Kohli has gone through a poor spell of performance recently in Tests. He scored just 190 runs in five Tests at an average of just 23.75 in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

India will now play a Test match after a long gap in June-July 2025 when they travel to England as their first assignment in the next WTC tournament. The debate between Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah may continue until then.