Decorated off-spinner R Ashwin has rooted for Jasprit Bumrah to take the captaincy mantle after Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli's sudden Test retirements left a leadership vacuum in India's red-ball setup. Rohit bid adieu to Test cricket last Wednesday, and a couple of days later, Virat bid his farewell to the format with a heartfelt note on Instagram. Ashwin, who had no clue about India's batting bigwigs' intentions to retire together, feels "testing time" lies ahead for Indian cricket, and their decision "truly" marks the beginning of the 'Gautam Gambhir' era.
"I didn't have an idea that both [Rohit and Kohli] would retire together. This will be a testing time for Indian cricket, and I'll say this is truly now the beginning of the Gautam Gambhir era," Ashwin said on his YouTube show 'Ash Ki Baat'.
If the recent reports are to be believed, Shubman Gill is the frontrunner to take on the captaincy tag despite Bumrah serving as former skipper Rohit's deputy in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He served as the stand-in captain in Perth and led the side when Rohit opted out in the final Test in Sydney.
"The team that will tour England will be a completely new team, a transformed team where Bumrah will probably be the senior-most player. He is obviously one of the captaincy options; I think he deserves the captaincy, but the selectors will make a decision based on his physical capacity," he said.
Reflecting on Rohit and Virat's decision to retire, Ashwin felt the duo still had enough left in their tank to offer more to Indian cricket. He believes that when India lines up to face England in the five high-stakes Tests from June 20 in Headingley, the inexperienced touring party will miss Virat's energy and Rohit's composure.
"Their retirements will definitely create a leadership vacuum. You can't buy experience, especially on tours like this. Virat's energy and Rohit's composure will be missed," he said.
"Tests has been the finest [format for India] in the last 10-12 years, but just for the sake of leadership, Rohit should've played till the England series, and if he'd performed, he could've carried on and given some more leadership."