Explained: Why Jasprit Bumrah pulled out of India Test captaincy race?

Jasprit Bumrah was seen as the first choice to become India’s new Test captain but the pacer has reportedly pulled out. Here’s what he told the BCCI selection committee. read more

Jasprit Bumrah reportedly informed BCCI that he won't be available for all five Tests in England. Image: PTI

Shubman Gill it seem is set to be named India’s new Test captain when the BCCI men’s selection committee meets on Saturday (24 May) to pick the squad for the upcoming five-match Test series against England. The selection meeting will be held in Mumbai followed by a press conference at 1.30 PM IST at the BCCI headquarters.

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The Indian Test squad selection press conference is expected to have chief selector Ajit Agarkar and Gautam Gambhir, who will announce the new Test captain and the replacements for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who recently retired from Test cricket.

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Why Bumrah pulled out of Test captaincy race?

Gill is leading the race for captaincy as per major media outlets and his promotion became even clearer after Jasprit Bumrah reportedly pulled out of the captaincy race. Bumrah captained India in two Tests during the Australia tour in Rohit Sharma’s absence. He is a senior player and one of the best fast bowlers in the world.

It was felt that Bumrah would be an easy pick for Team India’s Test captaincy; however, as per the Indian Express, the 31-year-old Gujarat cricketer pulled out of the race himself. The newspaper reported that Bumrah would not play all five Test matches in England to manage his workload.

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Bumrah also informed the BCCI about the injury threat he faces if he plays five Test matches and is most likely to play only three matches. As a result, the path for the selection committee became pretty easy as they landed on Gill as their choice for India’s new Test captain.

India’s pacers for England tour: no Shami

Remember, Bumrah played all five Tests in Australia but suffered a back injury in the last match at Sydney, which forced him to be out of the game for a while, including missing the Champions Trophy 2025.

Besides Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep and Harshit Rana could be the other pacers in the squad.

As per Cricbuzz, Gill can also replace Virat Kohli at No.4 in India’s Test batting while KL Rahul would be asked to open alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal. Rishabh Pant can be the vice-captain.

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