Ambati Rayudu predicts superstar cricketer as India's Test captain after Rohit Sharma | Exclusive
With Rohit Sharma at the wrong side of the 30s, it is imperative that he will retire at some point from Tests. Ambati Rayudu predicted India's new Test captain and also spoke on the IND vs BAN Test series in an exclusive chat with India TV.
India cricketer Rohit Sharma retired from T20Is after leading India to the T20 World Cup trophy earlier this year. However, he is set to represent India in the other two formats for a couple of years it seems. Rohit is 37 years old currently but at least two years down the line, he could be expected to call it quits from the Test format after playing one more World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.
In this case, who is the right candidate to take over India's captaincy in the longest format? According to former India cricketer Ambati Rayudu, Jasprit Bumrah is the perfect candidate for India to take over Test captaincy from Rohit. In an exclusive chat with India TV during an event in Delhi, Rayudu said, "Jasprit Bumrah is a superstar cricketer just like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. He is a captaincy material as well and going forward he could be India's captain. After Rohit, I think Bumrah can become India's next Test captain."
For the unversed, Bumrah has led India in one Test so far apart from two T20Is. India lost the only Test match in which he was captain while against Ireland in T20Is, Bumrah led India to win both matches.
Bumrah's record as India's captain
| Format | Matches | Won | Lost | NR/Tie/Draw |
| Test | 1 | 0 | 1 | - |
| T20I | 2 | 2 | 0 | - |
Ambati Rayudu also opened up on the upcoming Test series between India and Bangladesh. He reckons that the team led by Rohit Sharma will be able to tackle the spin challenge posed by the visitors and also backed the home team to continue their winning run at home in the longest format of the game.
"Indian team will be definitely prepared better. They are aware of the challenge in front of them. I feel India are definitely firm favourites to win the series against Bangladesh," Rayudu added.