India Squad for England Test Series: Bumrah Opts Out of Captaincy, Gill Likely to Lead

India Squad for England Test Series: India's star pacer Jasprit Bumrah has withdrawn himself from the race for Test captaincy according to a report from Sky Sports. In addition, the report states that Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant are now the frontrunners for the role with Rohit Sharma retiring.

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Rohit announced his retirement from Test cricket on May 7, with many believing Bumrah would be next in line to take over as India captain. Bumrah has captained India in three Test matches - one in England and two in Australia during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Bumrah cpatained India to a memorable win in the Perth Test after Rohit had to miss the game due to the birth of his second child.

According to the Sky Sports report, Bumrah stated that he cannot commit to playing all five Tests in England, because of workload management to prevent injury. Bumrah missed the Champions Trophy at the start of the year due to a back injury sustained during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

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With Bumrah likely to be unavailable for all five Tests, selectors would rather have someone they can fully count on. This leaves Gill and Pant in good positions in the race for captaincy, with selectors due to meet next week about the role. Whoever misses out on captaincy is expected to be announced vice-captain of the side.

A previous PTI report indicated that Gill was expected to be named new Test captain with Pant as vice-captain. Gill is currently vice-captain in white ball cricket for India. He was also excellent in his captaincy in IPL 2025 for the Gujarat Titans, before the tournament was postponed.

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