Who will be India's next test captain?

India is in search of a new test captain following Virat Kohli's unexpected resignation, and there are quite a few options available in the Indian team who can take up the mantle. In this post, we will look at some of the possible options.

Rohit Sharma

Looking at the leadership hierarchy Rohit Sharma should be the candidate to replace Virat Kohli at the helm. He was recently appointed the vice-captain of the Test team for the South Africa tour, which he eventually missed due to injury, replacing Ajinkya Rahane. He has all the qualities to become a great captain. He is also India's captain in ODI and T20I and that allows India to have consistency in leadership in all the formats. The only negative point about Rohit is that he is already aged 34 and might not be a long-term solution. Also, in the recent past, he has been battling a few injuries forcing him to miss quite a few matches.

KL Rahul

KL Rahul is one of few players who are a certainty in all 3 formats of the game. He also offers a long-term option as India's Test captain. He had the opportunity to lead India in ODIs in Rohit's absence; he could not make an impact in those 3 matches with his leadership, but his record in IPL shows that he enjoys the leadership responsibility and would be a good option.

Rishabh Pant

Rishabh Pant is again an all-format player in the Indian lineup. He is young and could be a long-term option to lead India in all formats. His success in IPL shows that he has the tactical acumen to be a successful captain. It might be a bit early for him to be given the test captaincy now itself, but he should definitely be groomed to lead India in the future.

Ravichandran Ashwin

R Ashwin plays only the test matches for India and could be a good stop-gap option if the selectors want to look beyond Rohit as captain. He has good man management skills which were on display during his stint as captain of Kings XI Punjab(now Punjab Kings). 

Jasprit Bumrah

Jasprit Bumrah has been India's pace spearhead for the last few years. He has been performing exceptionally well in all 3 formats of the game. He was named as vice-captain for South Africa ODIs when Rahul was the stand-in captain. He does not have any prior experience of leading any side, and his workload also needs to be managed closely which makes it difficult for him to lead the side.