Top News

The BCCI will name Indian Test Cricket captain as well as the team, on May 23. BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia had originally said that the squad would be announced by May 20. Clearly, that trajectory has shifted.

According to Cribuzz, a press conference will announce both the new Test captain, as well as the full squad of players. One of the reasons for the delay is that Virat Kohli has apparently told the BCCI that he would like to retire from Test Cricket.

As it stands, the BCCI has been in talks with Kohli, in hopes that he would change his mind. Whether or not the ex-captain will come back to the team is not clear. However, this major development seemingly seems to have created the revised date of May 23.

Even prior to Rohit resigning, word had it that the BCCI were not particularly enthused about appointing Jasprit Bumrah as captain. Despite Bumrah being the vice-captain during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the BCCI are willing to seriously explore other options, as they know they are playing with fire by letting Bumrah captain the side, only to risk injury.

Two strong alternatives for the role of captain hard are Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill. However, Pant's form since he's returned to international cricket has been very lacklustre, and his time as captain of the Lucknow Super Giants has been questioned. Shubman Gill is presently vice-captain in ODIs and T20Is and has captained the Gujarat Titans with sureness.

Though Gill is two years younger than Pant, he is starting to reach the peak of his powers. His average in Tests is quite poor, but the BCCI have seen captaincy potential in Gill for quite some time. Therefore, it would not be a shock to see Gill announced as the new Test captain when the squad is announced for the series against England.