Jasprit Bumrah to become the first fast bowler to lead India in a Test match in 35 years- Reports

The Indian team has endured a big blow as the captain Rohit Sharma has tested positive for Covid-19 ahead of the fifth Test match against England. The 35-year-old has been isolated at the team hotel. He is likely to miss out on the all-important match, starting on the 1st of July. Captaincy and the opening will become vacant if Rohit Sharma becomes unavailable for the fifth Test.

According to reports, pacer Jasprit Bumrah has emerged as a candidate for India's captaincy in the match. Since Kapil Dev led India in March 1987, no fast bowler has led the country in Test cricket. After 35 years, Bumrah might lead the team in the final Test against England at Edgbaston.

UPDATE - #TeamIndia Captain Mr Rohit Sharma has tested positive for COVID-19 following a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) conducted on Saturday. He is currently in isolation at the team hotel and is under the care of the BCCI Medical Team.

— BCCI (@BCCI) June 25, 2022

Bumrah was appointed as the vice-captain of the Indian team for the series in South Africa earlier this year. During the press conference, he stated that if the opportunity arises, he is ready to assume the leadership of India.

"If given an opportunity, it would be an honour. I don’t think any player would say no. There’s no bigger feeling than that," he had said back then.

"I don’t like to chase things because I don’t want to… See I am a person who believes that God has a plan and everything will find out its own way, so I don’t like to hamper the plan that is there. I try to never change anything," he said.

Speaking on how he will approach captaincy, Bumrah said, "Whatever role is asked of me I would do it with the best ability that I can. I don’t want to change the whole organisation, you are always a leader when you are a senior member of the team so it’s just a post that comes with you."

"Basically, you try to help all the people in whatever capacity you can. Even in Mumbai Indians, you have got a lot of senior players but now I am one of the senior players as well so you help the captain, you help everyone, you play the leadership role even when you are not asked to," he added.