Indian Selectors Must Make Test Succession Plans Which Should Include A New Captain

Summary

• Indian test cricket fans are calling for changes to be made after WTC loss
• India have too many senior players in the squad who are close to retiring
• Selectors must blood young players and find a new captain quickly

Indian cricket fans took to social media to express their disappointment at the way India played during the recent World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia which they lost. Fans as well as ex-players including former coach Ravi Shastri have called for the BCCI to make succession plans for the test team.

India had a big hole to fill when the likes of Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman retired from the test squad. They will face a similar situation shortly as the current Indian test squad has a number of senior players who will retire within the next 2 years.

Captain Rohit Sharma is 36, former captain Virat Kohli will turn 35 in November, the spin twins Ravi Ashwin turns 37 in Sep, Ravindra Jadeja will turn 35 in December and Cheteshwar Pujara who only plays test cricket is 35. If these players do not retire in the next two years, it is likely that the selectors will tap them on the shoulder and tell them to move on.

The big question is who will replace these veteran players who have served Indian well for all these years. The selectors need to blood a number of young players while these veteran players are in the squad so that they get to play alongside them and gain valuable experience.

There is already talk that Rohit Sharma needs to be replaced as test captain before the next overseas test series. Sharma’s captaincy hasn’t been as impressive and effective as Indian fans would have liked in all formats of the game.

The selectors have given Hardik Pandya the chance to captain in the T20 format but are yet to experiment with the test format. Given that most of the senior players are going to retire, it makes sense for the captaincy to be given to a younger player who has another 10 years in front of him.

The main candidates appear to be Shubman Gill and Rishab Pant who is currently recovering from an accident but we will have to wait and see what the selectors decide.