Jasprit Bumrah Injury: Fitness becomes Bumrah's enemy! He will not get the responsibility of vice-captaincy on the England tour, selectors want to give a chance to a young player
The governing body of Indian Cricket, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is in no mood to assign any kind of leadership role to premier fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah for the forthcoming England tour. Bumrah will not take part in all the matches during this five-Test series starting from June 20 onwards, so the board wants a vice-captain who is present on the field in every Test match.
Keeping the future in mind, the BCCI is eyeing to give the vice-captaincy to a young player. The selection committee headed by Ajit Agarkar wants to give preference to young leadership this time. Senior players like Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul have crossed the age of 30, so the board is eyeing Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant. The former is currently captaining 2022 winners Gujarat Titans (GT) in the IPL while Rishabh is handling the leadership duties of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).
What is the plan for Bumrah?
According to the news report of 'The Indian Express', given Bumrah's history of frequent injuries, the board and team management are cautious about his fitness. After suffering a back injury during the Sydney Test in January 2025, he stayed away from cricket for about three months and made a comeback for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2025.
Due to this injury, he was out of the ICC Champions Trophy and the first phase of Tata IPL 2025. Earlier in 2022, the pacer also missed the T20 World Cup and had to undergo surgery. Bumrah has had problems like back stress injury, abdominal strain and finger injury in the past, due to which he has not been able to play many important international matches.
BCCI wants a vice-captain for the entire series
Speaking to the newspaper, a BCCI official said, "We want a player who is available for all five Test matches and he should be given the responsibility of vice-captaincy. Since Bumrah will not play for the entire tour, we do not want to appoint different vice-captains for different matches."