Players who can replace Rohit Sharma as India’s Test captain

History was repeated as India lost to Australia in the finals of the ICC World Test Championship. Australia defeated India by 209 runs in the ICC WTC Final at the Oval in London, becoming the first team in history to complete their ICC trophy cabinet.

While there are several reasons why India has not won a significant game such as the ICC Finals in over a decade, captaincy has always been a huge issue. Some argue that while playing a brave brand of cricket throughout the cycle, India takes a defensive attitude in critical games, and that there is some fault in the captaincy and management.

It should be mentioned that with India’s loss to Australia in the ICC WTC Final 2023, skipper Rohit Sharma’s record of doing well in big games has come to an end. The great Aussies, who never fail to perform in key games, have smashed his record of not losing a single final.

Following the defeat, fingers will undoubtedly be pointed at Indian captain Rohit Sharma. Also, no matter how ornamented your hat is in franchise cricket, it means nothing if your team has repeatedly failed to win ICC titles.

Furthermore, Rohit Sharma is nearing the conclusion of his career. His age of 36 does not help him, and the BCCI will attempt to develop a new captain, albeit not immediately, but discussions will take place among the office bearers.

This article will walk you through the players who could succeed Rohit Sharma as India’s captain for the test matches.

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Virat Kohli

Former India captain Virat Kohli had a violent feud with the then-BCCI management, prompting him to resign as captain after India’s test series loss in South Africa in early 2022.

Although Virat has not been able to lead India to the sought ICC glory, his side has reached new heights in test cricket and has remained one of the most successful teams.

It remains to be seen whether Virat Kohli will accept the captaincy position if the BCCI provides him a second chance. It should be remembered that Kohli served as the stand-in captain for his IPL team Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in IPL 2023.

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Ajinkya Rahane

Mumbai-born In the just concluded ICC WTC Final 2023, Ajinkya Rahane was the solitary hitter who wanted to go big against Australia. In the two innings of the test, he scored 89 and 46 runs. He undoubtedly owned his comeback game after an 18-month absence and will be a member of Team India in the future.

Ajinkya Rahane was appointed vice-captain under Virat Kohli’s leadership, however he was relieved of the position after a spate of poor performances in the last year or so. He demonstrated his captaincy by winning the Border Gavaskar Trophy with a critically weakened Indian team in 2021.

Rahane can be a good short-term captaincy candidate for India’s test side.

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Shubman Gill

Shubman Gill is only 23 years old, but he has already had a great deal of success in international cricket. The right-handed hitter has cemented his spot in the Indian Test team and has pleased fans both in India and abroad with his batting.

Gill has never captained India, however he led India ‘C’ to the Deodhar Trophy finals in 2019-20. Seniors like Suryakumar Yadav, Dinesh Karthik, Mayank Agarwal, and Axar Patel played under his captaincy in that competition.

Sunil Gavaskar praised Gill after he hit a double hundred in one-day internationals, saying he has the head of a 35-year-old on his shoulders. Gill might be India’s captain for the next six to eight years since he has a reasonable amount of experience and a lot of cricket left in him.

It’s worth mentioning that players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, and KL Rahul will still be around for a while. They might even be able to assist Shubman Gill in his early decision-making.

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