The BCCI’s selection committee ended the fans’ wait and officially named Rohit Sharma as the next Test captain of Team India. Since he was named Virat Kohli’s deputy before the South Africa tour, Rohit was always the frontrunner to take over the role after the former captain stepped down.

On Saturday (February 19), the Chetan Sharma-headed selection committee made the official announcement and also appointed Jasprit Bumrah as his deputy. Rohit, who took over the full-time white-ball captaincy recently, is now Team India’s all-format captain.

The social media is flooded with wishes for Rohit and the Twitterati is hailing praise on the opening batsman. “From getting dropped in Tests to Test Captain of India, Rohit Sharma’s rise in test cricket has been an inspiration. Sun has risen very well,” a user wrote. 

Rohit’s rise to the top has been a surprise to many. The opening batsman remained an irregular member of the Test team for nearly 6 years after his debut. He only fixed his spot after the team management gave him the opening job in 2019.

He has been a consistent run-scorer since then and is among the best red-ball batsman in world cricket now. Rohit’s brilliance saw him being named vice-captain during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2020/21. A year later, he was given the job on a full-time basis. Though Rohit missed the South Africa tour.

Even though the selectors have named Jasprit Bumrah as the vice-captain, KL Rahul is expected to take over that job on a full-time basis when he returns. The right-handed batsman isn’t fit for the Sri Lanka series.

Meanwhile, the selectors have dropped former vice-captain, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ishant Sharma and Wriddhiman Saha from the Test team. Left-rm spinner Saurabh Kumar is the only new face in the team.