Jasprit Bumrah eighth different cricketer to lead Indian team in last one year – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

The Indian cricket team is set to welcome yet another captain on Friday with Jasprit Bumrah set to lead the side in their fifth and final Test against England in Birmingham starting Friday.

In what has become a fairly common occurrence in Indian cricket in recent months which potentially highlights a period of instability as far as captaincy’s concerned, pace spearhead Bumrah was chosen to lead the side after regular skipper Rohit Sharma was ruled out after contracting COVID-19.

“Representing India in Tests was always a dream for me and this opportunity to lead the side is the biggest achievement of my career. I’m very happy that I’ve been given this opportunity,” Bumrah said on the eve of the Test following the official announcement.

The Mumbai Indians pacer thus becomes the eighth cricketer to lead India across formats since July 2021, as well as the sixth this year alone.

Veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan was picked to lead a second-string Indian team that toured Sri Lanka for three ODIs and as many T20Is in July last year while the full-strength side, led by Virat Kohli, was busy preparing for the Test series in England. Later that year, Ajinkya Rahane led India in the first Test against New Zealand in Kanpur, the match ending in a draw to maintain the Mumbaikar’s unbeaten captaincy record.

After a turbulent period following the T20 World Cup that witnessed a showdown between Kohli and the BCCI, Rohit Sharma was appointed as the white-ball skipper on a full-time basis and took charge during the three-match T20I series against New Zealand that preceded the Test series. Rohit would later be appointed the Test captain after Kohli stepped down following the series defeat in South Africa, and assumed charge in the longest format in the two-Test series against Sri Lanka.

KL Rahul, meanwhile, led India in the three-match ODI series in South Africa that followed the Tests, and resulted in the Proteas whitewashing the Men in Blue.

Later in the summer, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya made their debuts as India captains. While India under Pant drew the five-match T20I series against South Africa at home, Pandya got off to a winning start by sweeping the two-match T20I series in Ireland.

The upcoming match against England will complete the five-Test series that had to be put on hold last year after a COVID-19 scare in the Indian camp led to an intense round of discussions between the ECB and the BCCI and ultimately resulted in the series finale getting suspended.

The match, which was originally scheduled to take place at Manchester’s Old Trafford in September last year, was instead postponed to the following summer with Birmingham’s Edgbaston Cricket Ground taking over the hosting duties.

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