Team India pacer Jasprit Bumrah is all set to lead Team India in the rescheduled fifth and final Test of the series against England, beginning Friday at Edgbaston, Birmingham. Rohit Sharma had tested positive for COVID-19 during the warm-up fixture against Leicestershire and he has failed to recover in time as well. Hence, for the first time since 1987 (Kapil Dev), a pacer would be leading Team India in Tests.
“It is a big achievement, big honour. It was my dream to play Test cricket. It is a big achievement that I have gotten the honour to lead the country, it is the biggest achievement of my career. I am very happy,” said Jasprit Bumrah during the pre-match press conference on Thursday. “I never thought about where I stand in the pecking order, what people think about me. I always focused on what I can do, I always back my self-belief. I believe in basics and this is what I will keep following.”
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Further talking about Rohit Sharma, Bumrah said: “Rohit is obviously a very important player, we will surely miss him, it is unfortunate that this has happened and he is missing out. In terms of team combination, you have to wait till tomorrow.”
While speaking about learning from senior players and the captain he has played under, Jasprit Bumrah has said that he tries to learn from others but supports his own instincts as well.
“I remember speaking to MS, and he told me that he never captained any side before he led India for the first time. Now, he is remembered as one of the most successful captains of all time. Obviously, these are the legends of the game (MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma). They have contributed a lot to Indian cricket and they are doing till now. I always try to listen to everyone’s advice, I try to learn from them but eventually, what your instincts tell you, and in the end, your own way cannot be the same as everyone else,” said the pacer in a press conference.
” I always try to keep learning but in the end, what your instincts tell you and what you think is the right call, I try to do that. I have played under many seniors, and always look to learn. There has not been any captain that I looked up to, when I was a kid, I was just a fan of fast-bowling,” Jasprit Bumrah concluded.
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India Test squad: Jasprit Bumrah (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohd Shami, Mayank Agarwal, Mohd Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Prasidh Krishna
