Explained: Why Rohit Sharma’s exit has left a leadership vacuum in the Indian Test team

Team India will begin a new chapter in the five-Test series in England that gets underway next month. Not only will it mark the beginning of a new cycle of the ICC World Test Championship, taking place right after the final between defending champions Australia and 2023-25 table toppers South Africa at Lord’s, India will also be playing under a new full-time captain for the first time in more than three years.

Rohit, after all, had announced his retirement from Test cricket on Wednesday, bringing to an end an 11-year journey that began with a bang, experienced years in wilderness, experienced a five-year high and ended on somewhat disappointing note, leading to an announcement midway during the 18th season of the Indian Premier League.

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Tributes have been pouring in for the last couple of days for Rohit, who signs off with 4,301 runs in 67 Test appearances, collecting 12 centuries along the way – each of them coming in a winning cause. But amid the tributes, the BCCI has a major decision to make, that of naming Rohit’s successor.

And unlike in the recent past, filling the Rohit-sized void in the format will be easier said than done.

BCCI faces huge call in naming Rohit’s successor

When MS Dhoni had announced his retirement from Test cricket midway during the 2014-15 tour of Australia, the spotlight instantly fell on Virat Kohli, who had captained India to victory in the 2008 U-19 World Cup and was being groomed for leadership under Dhoni.

And eight years later, when Kohli resigned from Test leadership to bring his run as India captain to a complete end, BCCI did not have to look any further than Rohit, who was something of a legendary leader in the IPL with five titles at that point and had already assumed charge in the white-ball formats at that time.

One would have assumed the Test series in England this summer to be the starting point of Bumrah’s reign as full-time Test captain, especially taking into account the manner in which he led the team in the first Test against Australia in Perth where they went 1-0 with a thumping 295-run victory.

A back injury later in the same series, however, has brought the spotlight back on his fitness issues and workload management, which puts a giant question mark on his ability to lead the team given a captain will be required to be part of the action for the most part.

As for the other options, Shubman Gill has emerged the top choice for the post with Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul being the other leading candidates in the race. None, however, are anything close to the seasoned leader that Rohit was back when he became the captain across formats.

The BCCI and the selection committee thus has a major decision to make in the coming weeks with head coach Gautam Gambhir set to provide crucial inputs on the same. And for the new captain to begin his tenure with a five-Test series against Ben Stokes’ ‘Bazballers’ in their own backyard will be the cricketing version of being thrown at the deep end of the pool.

How the new captain handles the tour of England will be an indicator of just how far he will go in the role.