Former Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has backed experienced players like Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja to take the Test captaincy role in place of Shubman Gill. It has been reported that Shubman Gill is the front-runner to take the captaincy onus after Sky Sports reported that Jasprit Bumrah has opted out of the leadership role.

Ashwin reckons his former long-term spin partner Ravindra Jadeja could also be an option for the captaincy role. 

Meanwhile, Bumrah led India in two Test matches on the Australian tour, winning one and losing one. Bumrah was able to lead from the front, bagging 32 wickets in five Test matches at a stellar average of 13.06. 

On the other hand, Shubman Gill doesn’t have a promising record while playing outside Asia and thus many experts have questioned his potential captaincy appointment.

“First of all, everyone is saying that Gill is the captain. Everyone is going in that direction. But there is a loud option in Jasprit Bumrah, and why do we forget about Ravindra Jadeja,” Ashwin said during a chat with former Tamil Nadu opener Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan on his YouTube channel. “If you are willing to go for a new person as captain, I would say why not make him [Gill] an understudy of an experienced guy for two years before handing him the job on a full-time basis.”

After Rohit and Virat’s retirement, Jadeja and Bumrah are the two most experienced players in the Test team. Ashwin said potential captaincy candidates should be asked to prepare a presentation on how they plan to take Indian cricket forward.

“I would say, why not get all three to four candidates and make them do a presentation and ask them each to detail the vision for the team,” Ashwin said. “It happens in countries like Australia. Why won’t we go down that road?”

The opening Test between India and England will be played at Leeds, Headingley from June 20 onwards.