Bharat Arun explains why Jasprit Bumrah shouldn't be named India's Test captain

Former India bowling coach Bharat Arun has explained why pacer Jasprit Bumrah can’t captain the Indian Test team. The Test captaincy post has been left vacant after Virat Kohli stepped down following India’s 1-2 Test series defeat against South Africa last month. Since then, the selectors and the BCCI hasn’t appointed the new skipper.

India was leading the series at one stage as they had won the first Test. The team was looking set to win the first ever Test series in the rainbow nation. Since then, the fortunes of the team went downhill. They went on to lose the second and third Test, which meant the dream remained unfulfilled.

They are now languishing at the fifth position in the World Test Championship. The 2021 finalists have played 10 games in the ongoing WTC, winning four, losing three, and drawn two with the win percentage of 49.07.  Meanwhile, Arun has said that Bumrah can’t captain the Test team due to workload management issues.

“There was also a debate on Bumrah captaining the side. The thing is will they play all Tests? With the workload management in place, would Bumrah be playing all Tests? What if in the middle of a series, he has to take a break? Then you have a change in leadership again. I feel it is not advisable to change a leader midway through a series unless the captain is injured,” he said while speaking to Sportstar.

Ravichandran Ashwin can’t captain the team as well: Bharat Arun

The former bowling coach added that even Ravichandran Ashwin can’t lead the team. He reasoned that there might be conditions where his services won’t be needed. Arun add that he would prefer a batter to become a Test captain.

“The same with Ashwin; what if your combination changes? I would think with the present scenario, bowler becoming a captain will be challenging. You also take into account the different kinds of pitches you play on… What if you need to play just a lone spinner abroad and it happens to be Ravindra Jadeja because of the team strategy… then it becomes a problem, so I would rather pick a batter as a Test captain,” he explained.