Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from Test cricket on Wednesday. He announced his retirement nonchalantly, just a few days before India's squad announcement for the five-match Test series against England.
The Test series kick starts India's WTC 2025-27 campaign. India reached the 2023 WTC final under Rohit Sharma. However, losses to New Zealand at home and Australia down under denied him the opportunity to take the side to back-to-back WTC finals. Previously, Rohit lost the WTC 2023 final to Australia as captain.
The BCCI took a few drastic steps after India lost to New Zealand at home and Australia away. Many believed that Rohit's retirement from Test cricket was on the cards, with the BCCI and the selectors willing to appoint a young skipper. Shubman Gill's name emerged as the favourite among all the possible candidates. Apart from Gill, there are a few other candidates as well who are well capable of leading the team in the Test format. In this article, we take a look at possible names who can replace Rohit Sharma as India's next Test skipper.
Players Who Can Replace Rohit Sharma As Next Test Captain
Shubman Gill
Shubman Gill has emerged as the top candidate to replace Rohit Sharma as the next Test captain of India. He has shown brilliant form with the bat in this ongoing IPL season, scoring over 500 runs so far. A source close to the BCCI said that they want someone who can play all five Tests against England, which is where Gill emerged as a favourable candidate as compared to Bumrah. The right-hander has primarily batted at number three in his Test career, but can now open the innings with Rohit Sharma retired from the format.
Jasprit Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah has already led India before in Test cricket. He recently led India in Australia in the Perth and Sydney Test matches. He has also led India in a Test match against England in 2022. Though Bumrah should be the closest to succeed Rohit Sharma, given his recent form and recent form Team India. However, keeping in mind his workload, the management is not keen to shoulder him the responsibilities of captaincy and burden him. Notably, he took 71 wickets in the previous WTC edition, including 36 in the Test series against Australia.
KL Rahul
Currently, KL Rahul is among the best batters in the Indian cricket team when it comes to technique. He also has the experience and temperament to play the long innings in the format. Rahul has previous experience of leading India in Test matches as well. He has led India in three Test matches, winning two games and losing one. Overall, he has played 58 Test matches for India, scoring 3257 runs including 8 centuries and 17 fifties.
Also Read: Selectors had no idea of Rohit Sharma's sudden retirement decision: Report
Shreyas Iyer
Shreyas Iyer is another name that has been thrown in by former India head coach Ravi Shastri. Shastri has been particularly impressed by how Iyer has changed his game, that helped him get back his BCCI central contract. He has made himself undropable in ODI cricket in the recent 12-18 months. Shastri has thrown his weight behind Shreyas's possible Test comeback in the upcoming England Test series. He has developed his game against pacers in recent times, which has made him a better batsman over time.
Rishabh Pant
The final name in this list is that of Rishabh Pant. The southpaw has had a torrid time off late in IPL 2025, where he has scored just 128 runs in 11 games at an average of 12.80. Captaincy has definitely added pressure on him to perform and so far, he has been bowed down by captaincy. However, Pant has tasted a lot of success in international cricket in Test cricket. In 43 Test matches, Pant has scored nearly 3000 runs with six hundreds and 15 fifties. He has also been dismissed several times in the 90s, which has denied him getting a few more tons. The world has seen the best of Pant as a Test batter and captaincy might inspire him to do better in the format.
Also Read: Great Player For India"- Watch - Sourav Ganguly Opines On Rohit Sharma's Test Retirement
