Shubman Gill Overlooked as Next India Captain, Young Stars Favored for Leadership Roles

Former cricketer Aakash Chopra has put forward his suggestions for the next captain of Team India after Rohit Sharma. Following the Test series losses to Australia and New Zealand, Rohit's captaincy has come under scrutiny, especially after he decided to rest himself in the final Test against Australia due to a series of low scores. While Jasprit Bumrah impressed with his leadership skills in the Perth Test, concerns have been raised about his long-term suitability as captain due to his ongoing back injury issues.

Chopra picked Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant as the two contenders for the future captain of the Indian cricket team.

"Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant - which of the two can become the captain? It's a beautiful question because, as per sources, Rohit has said that he will manage the team for a few months, but after that, you (the BCCI) can find whoever you want, and since there could be an injury issue with Bumrah, it's your wish," Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

Several reports also suggested that Gautam Gambhir, the current head coach of India, wants Jaiswal elevated into the leadership group after his impressive performance on the Australian tour.

Meanwhile, Chopra offered a short-term suggestion, advising the team management to pick Jasprit Bumrah as captain for the next Test series in England and appoint a vice-captain whom they wanted to groom.

"I had a solution that we should see after six months. If Jasprit Bumrah captains the entire England tour, appoint a vice-captain properly because you have to groom him. Let's be very honest, when we won the T20 World Cup, it seemed like the grooming process was going very well," he observed.

‘Shubman Gill is not coming in the T20 format at all’

He further pointed out that the management did try to elevate Shubman Gill for the leadership role by naming him the vice-captain in the white-ball formats after the T20 World Cup, but things have changed for him now. The 25-year-old was dropped from the XI in the Boxing Day Test and was not picked in the squad for the T20Is against England, which indicates that he has been dropped down in the pecking order for the leadership role.

"Everything looked fine. Shubman Gill was being made the vice-captain. He was regularly being assigned that role and then suddenly Shubman Gill was dropped. So pressure was put on him as to what was happening as he is potentially not coming in the captaincy thoughts and is not coming in the T20 format at all," Chopra elaborated.

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