"Only great player that Indian cricket has" - Sanjay Manjrekar's choice for India's Test captain in ENG vs IND 2025 series

Former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar believes that Team India must appoint ace speedster Jasprit Bumrah as their captain for the upcoming five-match away series against England. He emphasized that being the only great player in the current squad makes the fast bowler the only ideal contender for the leadership role.

The Indian side are in search of a new Test skipper for the England tour. Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from red-ball cricket earlier this month. It was followed by senior batter Virat Kohli drawing curtains to his Test career as well a few days later.

Suggesting that the team management needed to rope in Bumrah as the new Test captain, here's what Manjrekar said in a video posted on his Instagram account;

"My three frontrunners and three choices for Indian captaincy on the England tour is 1. Jasprit Bumrah, 2. Jasprit Bumrah and 3. Jasprit Bumrah. If you're looking at Indian cricket properly, all three formats, and only if you want to choose to look at Test cricket, because this England tour is all about Test cricket, Jasprit Bumrah is the only great player that Indian cricket has at the moment."

Bumrah has captained India in three Test matches in the past. Under his leadership, the side secured a stunning six-wicket win against Australia at Perth in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy opener last year.

Pointing out why Bumrah deserves to be Sharma's successor in the format, Manjrekar added:

"Bumrah deserves to be India's captain just based on his stature in Test cricket, and that is important when you have a Test captain. He captained India recently in Australia in Perth when Rohit Sharma wasn't available and won India the Test match."

The England tour marks the beginning of India's new World Test Championship (WTC 2025-27) cycle. The five-match Test series is set to kick off on June 20.

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"The last thing you want to do" - Sanjay Manjrekar not in favor of a youngster getting India's Test captaincy

Reports suggest that opener Shubman Gill is among the frontrunners for India's Test captaincy. Sanjay Manjrekar, however, opined that the Indian think tank should not put added pressure on a youngster who hasn't yet performed consistently in overseas conditions.

The cricketer-turned-commentator remarked in the same video:

"Some of the other names that are floating around, the only rationale that's been given is they're likely to be fit. What about form? Are they likely also to have great form and that's why command a place in the side and sort of deserve to be India's captain?"

"The last thing you want to do is put pressure on a young player who is yet to prove himself in overseas Test cricket to be given additional responsibility of captaincy," he added.

India failed to qualify for the WTC final in 2023-25 cycle. They finished third in the standings. Australia and South Africa will compete in the summit clash at Lord's London, beginning June 11.