T-minus 31 days. That’s how long we have before the England tour starts. Yet, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) hasn’t yet named the India cricket team’s next Test captain. Rohit Sharma retired on May 8 and was already having conversations with the BCCI before that for a month.
Constant delays
So, the board knew it was coming. Yet, they haven’t named his replacement yet. The date for the announcement of India’s captain and squad was May 20 before. But it was moved to May 23 as the Indian Premier League (IPL) halted. Since it’s resumed, that date has been pushed to the last week of May.
Surely, the BCCI was thinking about before long the IPL was stopped. The revised schedule, changing venues, and talking with other boards about foreign players’ availability can’t be so strenuous that they haven’t finalised one of three candidates available: Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, and Shubman Gill.
Now the England and Wales Cricket Board (BCCI) has not yet named their squad. But they already have Ben Stokes as their captain and Ollie Pope as his deputy. Also, England will play Zimbabwe from May 22-26. For India, the England tour is the next stop.
Is IPL being taken into account?
One can’t understand why the BCCI is torn about whom to name India’s next Test captain. Reports suggest Bumrah has already been ruled out due to injury concerns. But then what’s the issue in selecting one of Pant or Gill? Are you waiting to see how they perform as captains in the IPL? If not, then why the wait? And if yes, why at all?
You gauge one’s leadership or tactic. But the team’s success is one of the major talking points. No one is raving about MS Dhoni, despite him being one of cricket’s greatest tacticians, while everyone’s going gaga over Shreyas Iyer, just because of their team’s success in the ongoing IPL.
The point is, the IPL shouldn’t play a role in selecting India’s Test captain. So what are BCCI waiting for? Neither Gill nor Pant has been in great form in red-ball cricket, but they are only viable options. Should it take more than 2 months to select one of them? Absolutely not.
India vs England Test schedule
1st Test, Headingley: June 20-24
2nd Test, Edgbaston: July 2-6
3rd Test, Lord’s: July 10-14
4th Test, Old Trafford: July 23 to July 27
5th Test, Oval: July 31 to August 4
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