Leg And Off: Should India stick with Jasprit Bumrah as captain when Rohit Sharma comes back?
During Sportskeeda's live ball-by-ball coverage of the first India-Australia Test of the 2024-25 Border Gavaskar Trophy at the Optus Stadium, we put up a question to our readers, "Should India stick with Jasprit Bumrah as captain when Rohit Sharma comes back?" and the response was 57% in favor and 43% against.
These were from over a few thousand users in a time frame of just 15 minutes. It isn't unanimous but Bumrah has clearly impressed a large section of Indian fans with his leadership skills.
He has been pretty good in the two days so far, as India have gained a dominating position. On the first day, after the visitors were bowled out for just 150, he bowled one of the best spells by a fast bowler in Australia, taking out three of the hosts' top four for a combined 18 runs. He then converted that into a fifer on Saturday.
Not only did captaincy seem to bring the best out of him, but India looked a completely different side to the one that lost 0-3 at home to New Zealand only weeks ago, where skipper Rohit Sharma's press conferences got him a ton of flak.
Although it's unlikely, should BCCI even consider sticking with Bumrah as the Test captain when Rohit comes back from his paternity leave? Below, we discuss the pros and cons of the idea in this edition of Leg And Off:
Why Bumrah can be stuck around as captain
Again, it's highly unlikely this happens but it doesn't mean the idea doesn't have some merit. Rohit's Test captaincy career has been quite underwhelming. India lost their World Test Championship Final under him and then conceded the first-ever whitewash in a Test series of three or more matches at home.
His batting has been below par, too, so much so that some reports before the BGT said the BCCI was considering transitioning from him and Virat Kohli after the tour. There's a chance leadership has taken a bit of a toll on him -- other reports have claimed that he sat alone at the Wankhede for a while after the Kiwi whitewash.
The team looked fresh under Bumrah. His field placements were relentlessly aggressive and kept the pressure on while the bowling changes were mostly spot on on the first day, when India reduced Australia to seven wickets for 59 runs.
India missed both of those things against New Zealand. It might just be the new, young players coming in or the weight of the occasion but the team looked much more confident and aggressive in Perth than any of the three home Tests.
Rohit is probably not a bad captain but pundits who have observed him closely describe him as a "laid-back" one. If he comes back for the second Test, the team would be as good in skills but might lose the same attacking character, and thus the momentum built with hard work over the two days here.
Bumrah is leading from the front and his leadership has also managed to awaken Virat Kohli in a way, with the former captain coming back to his old avatar, which made India a hawkish bowling team, that hunted opposition down in packs.
No matter how the Test ends, the team has played some of its best cricket in months on the first two days here (with help from favorable conditions). There's no harm in giving the team continuity of leadership for the rest of the series.
If Rohit and Bumrah share a good relationship, the former could be better suited to let things flow under the latter and settle in as an opener. In turn, the lack of responsibility might free him up for what would be his last four Tests down under.
Finally, with that performance, Bumrah has done a lot in making his name the centerpiece for future captaincy replacements. If India wins, that position would be all but sealed. Rohit letting him continue would be a silky-smooth transition, along the lines of MS Dhoni passing the baton to Kohli in 2014-15, in the same country.
Why Rohit deserves to lead India in Adelaide
There have been ideas floating around social media that after Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul's stunning 172-run unbeaten stand on Saturday, Rohit might find it hard to get back into India's 11. Let's address that before going to captaincy.
In the last BGT in Australia, in 2020-21, Rohit scored 129 in two Tests, which was the fifth-highest for India overall. His and Shubman Gill's partnerships at the Sydney Cricket Ground and the Gabba were as crucial to India's success as Rishabh Pant's knocks and Cheteshwar Pujara's gritty defense.
Rohit, thanks to his compact backfoot technique, gave India immense solidity against the new ball, which he can still be trusted to do consistently. Like the rest of the team, he, too, can shed the "high-intent" gene that worked against India in the New Zealand series at home, and go back to playing on the merit.
It would only make India better because he and Gill, who's also injured, can then come back into the 11 for the inexperienced Devdutt Padikkal and Dhruv Jurel. Rahul can move to number three or six, and he'd probably still be equally good.
Now, when he returns, taking captaincy off him at this stage would be an unnecessary risk of creating discord in the team. Rohit suffered when Mumbai Indians chose Hardik Pandya over him as captain in IPL 2024 and the team environment, along with on-field performances, was impacted because of it.
Bumrah, though seemingly a brilliant captain, shouldn't mind giving leadership up in the second Test considering how he was listed as the vice-captain in the tour.
Secondly, despite the New Zealand white-wash, Rohit has a win percentage of 57.14 in Tests as captain, only behind Kohli for India. That's no fluke. Plus, he can argue that India's success in Perth is not just about captaincy, but also the conditions, because it's not wrong to say that the afternoon of Day 1 was the best time to bowl for India's pacers while Day 2 was the best to bat.
India lost two tosses against New Zealand and though they were defensive at the wrong moments, they were also quite unlucky at some stages. And because Rohit has never captained in Tests in Australia before, with this team that he'd have probably helped select, it's hard to judge and say he won't be as good as Bumrah.