ENG vs IND, 5th Test: Jasprit Bumrah becomes India's 6th captain in 2022, shatters 63-year-old record

In 1959, as many as five players (Vinoo Mankad, Hemu Adhikari, Datta Gaekwad, Pankaj Roy and Gulabrai Ramchand) led Team India. In 2022, India have broken the 63-year-old record as Jasprit Bumrah became the sixth player to lead the teamin the calendar year.

It has been a unique year for India, with captaincy changes happening at regular intervals due to injury and Covid concernsor with two sides playing parallelly. In this regard, the likes of Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya and now Bumrah have led India across formats. Kohli led India in a solitary Test, during the third and final match versus hosts South Africa, before resigning from the post. KL Rahul had led in his place in the second and penultimate Test with Kohli out of action due to injury. Rahul also led in the three ODIs in South Africa before Rohit Sharma resumed captaincy duties in the home white-ballseries versus West Indies and Sri Lanka, respectively.

Post IPL 2022, Rishabh Pant led India in the five T20Is versus the Proteas at home, as regulars such as Rohit, Kohli, etc. were rested before the one-off Test against England. Hardik led India in the recently-concluded Ireland T20Is as Rohit & Co. were preparing for their rescheduled fifth and final Test versus the Three Lions, which got underway on Friday (July 01). With Rohit being ruled out of the England Test due to Covid concerns, Bumrah became the sixth captain of India in 2022.

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Talking about the final Test, Ben Stokes-led England opted to bowl first versus India. Bumrah said at the toss, "It's a good feeling (to be captain) and is a big privilege. Can't get better than this. Excited and looking forward to this." Ahead of the match, head coach Rahul Dravid told the broadcasters, "I think he (Bumrah) is a very thoughtful individual, understands the game very well. Also he commands the respect of the team, which is very important as a leader. Bowling changes, field changes obviously will only get better with time. It's a new challenge. It's not easy for a fast bowler to captain, he's got to think about his own bowling too. Have had a few conversations with him, and told him that we need him more as a bowler. Captaincy is something that you'll get better at as you do it more."

Bumrah became the second pacer to lead India in the purest format after Kapil Dev. He is officially India's 36th Test captain.