Jasprit Bumrah announced as India captain for the England Test

India are set to face England in the rescheduled fifth Test on July 1st. Having senior players rested and a young team itching for an opportunity, India’s motivation for the upcoming Test was on a high. COVID however stuck again a became a spoilsport for the much-awaited Test match. First Ravichandran Ashwin, and then Virat Kohli were infected with the virus which spoiled India’s hopes of a full-intensity warm-up game.

A huge crisis took shape when the Indian captain Rohit Sharma was infected with the game and had to sit out the warm-up Test against Leicester. With no other player fit to lead the team, the team management had a huge task at hand.

The Indian cricket board have come out and announced that Jasprit Bumrah would be the Indian captain for the England Test and Rishabh Pant would shoulder the vice-captaincy role. In a Twitter announcement, the official Twitter handle wrote, “ NEWS- Jasprit Bumrah to lead Team India for the fifth Test match against England.” The tweet also announced that “Rishabh Pant will be the captain.”

The captaincy issue grew bigger as there was no stand-in captain in the Indian squad for a situation like this. KL Rahul is already out of the team with an injury, Virat Kohli has also stepped down which means he won’t take back the captaincy role again. Also, since his removal was unceremonious and forced to some extent. Rishabh Pant was touted as the next Indian captain but his captaincy in the recently concluded India- South Africa T20I series left a lot to be desired and hence he wasn't chosen as the outright captain for the England Test.

England and India are going to play the 5th Test match from the India tour of England 2021. The series is currently slanted in India’s favour with the visiting team leading by 2-1. This Test allows India a chance to take the trophy home and give a good start to the England tour while it offers England a chance to draw the series.