Dinesh Karthik feels Team India should protect Jasprit Bumrah
Former Indian cricketer, Dinesh Karthik, has shared his views on the prospect of pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah leading the national team. This discussion follows Rohit Sharma's retirement from T20 cricket after India's successful ICC T20 World Cup campaign. However, Suryakumar Yadav, a fellow Mumbai Indians player, was eventually appointed as the T20I captain. Karthik expressed his concerns about Bumrah's fitness and workload management during an interaction on Cricbuzz.
Karthik highlights Bumrah's fitness concerns
Karthik emphasized the importance of preserving Bumrah's fitness for crucial matches. He warned that the added responsibility of captaincy could potentially increase his risk of injury. "Calm, cool, most importantly good maturity... but he's a fast bowler. So how can we play him in all three formats? That is the BIGGEST question the selectors could have had," Karthik stated, underlining the difficulty in balancing Bumrah's workload across different formats.
Bumrah is like a 'Kohinoor diamond' for Indian cricket: Karthik
Karthik further likened Bumrah to a "Kohinoor diamond" for Indian cricket, whose well-being must be carefully managed. "Being a fast bowler, especially at Bumrah's level, it is so important to protect him and play him in important matches," he said. He expressed concern that burdening Bumrah with captaincy could lead to him playing more series and potentially injuring himself.
Bumrah's past leadership experiences and future prospects
Bumrah has previously led Team India as a stand-in captain during a Test against England at Edgbaston in 2022, and also guided India to a 2-0 series victory in a three-match T20I series against Ireland last year. Despite his limited leadership stints, Karthik's comments underscore the need for careful management of Bumrah's workload to ensure his effectiveness and longevity in international cricket.
Basit Ali's take on Bumrah's potential captaincy
Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali also contributed to the discussion about Bumrah's potential captaincy. He suggested that Bumrah should not pursue the captaincy role and should concentrate on his bowling instead. While acknowledging that bowlers like Pat Cummins have successfully assumed captaincy roles, he noted that it's an uncommon scenario. Ali also hinted at a slight possibility of Bumrah leading the Indian side in the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025.
