Jasprit Bumrah turns down India Test captaincy

India pacer Jasprit Bumrah has reportedly turned down Test captaincy after Rohit Sharma’s retirement from the red-ball format.

Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from Test cricket on May 7 following India’s disappointing outing in the last two series.

“Hello everyone I would just like to share that I am retiring from Test cricket,” he wrote in a post on Instagram.

The right-handed batter, however, maintained that he would continue to represent India in the ODI format.

Following his retirement, it was reported that pacer Jasprit Bumrah and Shubman Gill were the frontrunners to succeed him as Test captains.

However, a report in Sky Sports News has revealed that the right-arm pacer has opted out of the race to become India’s Test captain.

“It is understood Bumrah, who was favourite to take over the captaincy from Rohit Sharma, does not want to commit to playing all five Tests in a series due to workload,” as per the report.

According to the report, Jasprit Bumrah was unlikely to feature in all five Tests against England to manage his workload following his back injury.

The publication went on to reveal that Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant became the frontrunners for the position after Jasprit Bumrah opted out of the race.

It is worth noting here the pacer led India in the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test in Perth after Rohit Sharma missed the game.

India won the game, their only victory in the five-match Test series.

Jasprit Bumrah captained the side in the final Test after Sharma opted out of the game due to his dismal batting numbers throughout the series.