Dinesh Karthik, in his latest episode for Cricbuzz, shared his thoughts on Jasprit Bumrah as India’s future captain. Jasprit Bumrah has led India in the past but is currently not in contention for the position.
The concept of a fast bowler being a captain is not that common in Indian cricket. Pat Cummins leads by example as Australia’s captain across formats, but something similar is yet to happen in Indian cricket.
Different cricket experts have time and again talked about Jasprit Bumrah’s leadership qualities. However, seeing him lead India across formats, especially being a fast bowler with his workload management ability, is a big unknown.
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Speaking about Jasprit Bumrah as a possible captain for India across formats, Dinesh Karthik sounded concerned in his reply to this query with Bumrah’s workload as a pacer coming into the picture.
Jasprit Bumrah is like Kohinoor diamond: Dinesh Karthik
“All good… He’s calm, cool, mature, but he’s a fast bowler, so how can we get him to play in all three formats, that’s the biggest question the selectors would have.
“For a fast bowler like Bumrah, his fitness needs to be monitored and he needs to be protected as a player and only be forced to play in important matches. I keep saying this about Bumrah, he is like a Kohinoor diamond, we have to protect him, take care of him, make sure he lasts as long as possible because whenever Bumrah plays in any format he makes an impact and that is what we want,” Dinesh Karthik said.
He further said that loading Jasprit Bumrah with the pressure of captaincy may lead to him getting injured which will be a big problem for the Indian team. The player last played in the ICC T20 World Cup for India where he finished as the Player of the Series taking 15 wickets in 8 matches at an average of 8.27. It included two match-winning spells against Pakistan and South Africa in the final.
While there has been a lot of talk about Bumrah being a possible candidate for India captain, he has been open to it. In fact, he chose himself as his favourite captain, thanks to the fact that he led India in a few matches, beating names like MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
“My favourite captain is me because I have captained a few matches. Obviously, there are great captains but I would say my name is my favourite captain,” he said when The Indian Express asked him to pick the best Indian captain.
Bumrah has captained India in three matches – one Test match against England and two T20Is against Ireland. His debut as captain was against England in Birmingham in 2022, when captain Rohit was sick with COVID.
Meanwhile, according to recent reports from Indian Express, Jasprit Bumrah is all set to make a comeback for the Test series against Bangladesh. He could play in one of the two Test matches against Bangladesh and in two of the three matches in the New Zealand Test series that follows.
Bumrah is key to India’s chances in Australia when they tour the country with the first Test starting on November 22 in Perth.
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