“Bumrah has no leadership role” — BCCI puts fitness ahead of vice-captainship for the England visit

In the forthcoming Test series against England, Jasprit Bumrah, the star bowler for Team India, will not be assigned a leadership position. Notably, the duty will be delegated to a person who can attend every match by the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India). The Board does not want to give Bumrah any responsibility because he will not play in every game.

In order to manage his workload, Bumrah is probably going to miss a few games in England.

The bowler missed the last innings of the fifth Test match because to a back ailment he suffered during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024. In addition, he was not present for MI’s opening games in the current IPL 2025. Therefore, the management is unlikely to use him in every game in order to prevent injuries and give him enough time to recover.

India will play a five-match series in England beginning in June following the IPL. Both sides will be very intent on winning this series and getting off to a good start because it will be the first of the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.

“He should be appointed vice-captain because we want a man who can play in all five Test matches. We do not want to designate different deputies for each of the five games since Bumrah will not be participating in all of them. According to a BCCI source cited by the Indian Express, “it will be better if the captain and vice-captain are fixed and play all five Tests.”

Gill and Pant are in the running; Jaiswal might be developed into a future leader.

As of right moment, the management has very few options because just two players—Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant—fit the bill to be vice captain. But, going forward, they can also develop Yashasvi Jaiswal, which might be advantageous to them. The selection of the team’s vice-captain by the Board will be intriguing.