India captain Rohit Sharma and legendary batter Virat Kohli's Test retirement, ahead of the upcoming five-Test match series against England and in their absence, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are supposed to announce a new Test captain for the upcoming series where young batter Shubman Gill is leading the race for the leadership role despite experts backing legendary speedster for the role after he guided India to their only win in Australia during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, where he was also Rohit's deputy.
Ashwin who announced his international retirement on the same series, also believes that Bumrah being the more ideal candidate for the role, shrugging off the concerns around his workload, he also threw a "wildcard" at the selectors with a fresh name for the leadership race.
Ashwin hailed Shubman Gill for his batting performances following his match-winning knock against England last year in Ranchi and Dharamsala, but believes that Ravindra Jadeja, "the most experienced player in the team", could be considered for the captaincy role, at least for the next two years.
"Let's not forget, Jadeja is the most experienced player in the team. He should be in the conversation. If you're willing to train a new guy for two years and then make him captain, Jadeja can do that for two years too. They (India) can even play him as vice-captain (under Jadeja). It will seem like I'm throwing in a wildcard," Ashwin speaking on his YouTube show' Ash ki Baat'
The five-Test match series between India and England is scheduled to start from June 20 and this will be India's first red-ball assignment after a huimilitaing 3-1 defeat against Australia which forced them out from the World Test Championship (WTC) final.