Team India pacer Jasprit Bumrah is getting ready to lead India for just the second time in his career in the absence of regular skipper Rohit Sharma for the first India vs Australia 2024 Test for the Border Gavaskar Trophy in Perth from Friday. The last time that Bumrah led the side was back in 2022 in the Edgbaston Test against England.
The Mumbai Indians fast bowler aspires for a leadership role in the future like his counterpart Pat Cummins of Australia but would prefer to remain in the present.
“Obviously, I won’t be telling Rohit ki main kar leta hoon (I would do this) (laughs). He is our captain and he is doing a wonderful job and right now it’s one game and you don’t know what will happen tomorrow,” Bumrah said in pre-match press conference in Perth.
“In the next game, things change and that’s how cricket works. Right now, I am in the present. I have been given a responsibility. I did it once and enjoyed it thoroughly. I am thinking how I can contribute to the best of my capacity. Future, I can’t control it,” headed.
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India’s pacer spearhead clarified that he doesn’t look at captaincy as a ‘post’. “I don’t look at captaincy as a post but I have always loved responsibility.
“I wanted to do the tough job since I was a child. You want to do things and get thrown in tough scenarios, this adds a new challenge for me,” he said.
Bumrah also understands that it doesn’t help if one is trying to ape someone else’s leadership traits. “You have to find your own way as you can’t blindly copy anyone. Virat (Kohli) and Rohit have been very successful and have gotten results but my way is that I have always never followed a copybook plan.
“And even with my bowling you can see, I go with my instincts and that’s how I have always played my cricket. I have a lot of faith in my guts and instincts,” Bumrah said.
India’s stand-in captain believes that fast bowlers are ‘tactically smart’ and do make good captains, and praised Pat Cummins for doing a ‘phenomenal job’ with the Australian team. He also cited Kapil Dev’s example.
“Well, I look at it in a different manner. I can manage myself the best when I am the captain. I know when I am fresh and I know when I need to push myself, and I know when I have to take extra responsibility,” Bumrah said.
“I look at the advantages. I understand that the wicket is changing, you have to understand what field settings are good at the moment and obviously bowlers are more data driven and research oriented than batters and that’s how the game is headed,” he added.
