Jasprit Bumrah captain: Premium fast bowler will be leading India in the one-off Test match against England from tomorrow.
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Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah will become India’s 36th Test captain when the team will step on to the field in the imminent one-off Test match against England tomorrow.
Identified as part of the leadership group alongside KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant by Rohit Sharma upon him becoming India’s all-format captain, Bumrah will replace Sharma who couldn’t recover in time from COVID-19.
“It’s huge achievement, a huge honour. When I started playing, Test cricket was a dream. To lead India is the biggest achievement of my career so far,” Bumrah told the reporters on the eve of the match at Edgbaston.
Bumrah, who has an opportunity to lead India in what could be a historic Test match, will have eyes on their fourth Test series victory in England. Currently 2-1 up with a match to be played in the series, Bumrah also has a chance to power India to their first-ever Test victory in Birmingham.
Jasprit Bumrah captain record in Test cricket
Bumrah, who will be leading India for the first time on Friday, will be the eighth cricketer to lead them since 2021. Despite being considered as an able captaincy candidate, it is noteworthy that Bumrah has never led any team in competitive cricket.
As far as being a fast bowler captain, Bumrah will be India’s first in the last 35 years. First since the legendary Kapil Dev, Bumrah spoke against thinking on the such lines.
“Batsmen, bowlers, fielders, wicket-keeper, everyone is part of the team and remains involved in the game regardless of their role. I never thought about batsman-captain or bowler-captain aspect as we all are players. Everyone reads the game,” Bumrah added.
Although they had led in a completely different format, Bumrah’s situation is same as all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja, both of whom had led Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings respectively in Indian Premier League 2022. While Pandya has Jadeja had finished IPL 2022 with completely opposite results, the cash-rich league was their first experience with captaincy in competitive cricket.
