Indian cricket stalwart Rohit Sharma has announced his retirement from Test cricket with immediate effect.
The 38-year-old made the announcement via an Instagram story on Wednesday, putting to rest weeks of speculation surrounding his future in the longest format of the game.
As Rohit removes name from the Test circuit, Team India need to find a new leader ahead of their series against England.
So who could be the next Test captain. Here are the potential candidates.
Jasprit Bumrah
He did a fantastic job as captain for India when they toured Australia getting a win and a draw while India lost all the games with Rohit as captain.
But the issue with Bumrah remains his fitness. While he's India's best pacer, his ability to take workload is of major concern and India needs a Test captain who can be there for every single ball of the game.
Shubman Gill
Gill seems to be BCCI's top pick for captaincy across formats. He was recently made vice captain across all formats.
While his leadership for Gujarat Titans in the IPL is good, he still hasn't been able to show the outstanding qualities one would expect from an Indian captain.
Gill needs to be given a few years of captaincy across shorter formats before being handed over the Test captaincy.
KL Rahul
It's clear that Virat Kohli is not an option for BCCI even in the short term. The only other options are Rishabh Pant and K.L. Rahul.
Pant has not shown any signs of maturity that you would expect from a player of his calibre and now seniority. He is an experienced test player and probably India's trump card in England but the lack of responsibility in his batting leaves doubts over his ability to lead India in the longest format.
Rahul has a head on his shoulders that is even cooler than a cucumber. He has been in striking form across formats since the series in Australia and he showed that he is still one of India's best choices for the opening slot.
With Rohit Sharma leaving behind a gap at the opening slot and as a leader, K.L. Rahul, Team India's Mr Fixit seems like the best solution.
He still has about four years of Test cricket left in him and he can also groom India's eventual captain Gill into the perfect mould.
But what will BCCI do? With Gautam Gambhir having a say in the matter as India's head coach, he will look to take a fearless approach and use this as an opportunity to bring youngsters to the forefront. Gill as captain works best for promoting youth into a new era of Indian cricket.