The Indian cricket team will be looking for a new Test captain after the retirement of Rohit Sharma. Former skipper Virat Kohli has also bid adieu to the longest format of the game. With the national team looking for a new red-ball captain, here is a look at who the fans favour –
Photo : AP
After the retirements of current and former captains Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, India will head into the marquee five-match Test series against England as well as the 2025-27 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle with a new captain.
Unlike in the past, when Kohli took over MS Dhoni or Rohit replaced Kohli, the Indian team does not have a clear-cut transition plan so far. Ajit Agarkar, Gautam Gambhir, and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) face a tough choice to name a replacement, and a unanimous choice is unlikely.
The New Test Captain of The Indian Cricket Team – India Votes
In a poll conducted by TimesNowSport on X (formerly known as Twitter), cricket fans picked Jasprit Bumrah as the standout name for the leadership role. Bumrah was the vice-captain of the Test team over the recent past and has already captained the team in three Test matches, including two in the series against Australia.
Bumrah emerged as the overwhelming winner in our poll with 40.6% votes among the 404 people who voted. While Shubman Gill has emerged as a front-runner for the job as per media reports, KL Rahul (29.7%) was the second in the voting list. Gill got the third-most votes (21.8%). Despite being among India’s most consistent players in Test cricket since the start of the decade, Rishabh Pant emerged as an unpopular option for captaincy with only 7.9% votes.x
Who Should Be The Next Indian Cricket Team’s Test Captain?
— Times Now Sports (@timesnowsports) May 11, 2025
When Will New Captain Be Announced?