NEW DELHI: Legendary Sunil Gavaskar on Wednesday hailed Jasprit Bumrah — the captain — saying he could well be full time skipper in the longest format for India.
Admiring Bumrah’s leadership style, Gavaskar said that he doesn’t exert undue pressure on his teammates.
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Bumrah captained India in two Test of the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. One of those matches was the series opener in Perth, which India won by 295 runs. India however lost the series 3-1.
“He will be the next man, because he leads from the front. He’s got a very good air about him, the air of a leader, but he’s not somebody who’s going to put pressure on you. Sometimes you have captains who put a lot of pressure on you.
“With Bumrah you can see that he expects the others to do what their job is, why they are in the national team, but he doesn’t seem to pressurise anybody. With the fast bowlers, he’s been absolutely brilliant, standing at mid-off, mid-on, and every time just being at hand to tell them. I think he was absolutely brilliant, and I won’t be surprised if he takes over very soon,” said Gavaskar on Channel Seven.\
Bumrah’s individual performance in BGT was exceptional. He was awarded Player of the Series for his impressive 32 wickets in five matches. His bowling average was a remarkable 13.06, with a strike rate of 28.37.
Gavaskar believes India’s fortunes in Sydney might have differed had Bumrah been fit to bowl in the fourth innings.
A back spasm prevented Bumrah from bowling as India attempted to defend a target of 162.
“From the other end, it looked a little bit easier to bat, and I think India probably suffered from the fact that they didn’t have a first-change bowler like Australia had – Pat Cummins and then (Scott) Boland coming in to bowl.
“So there was support for the opening bowlers. Bumrah, unfortunately, was pretty much fighting a lone battle. What a difference it would have made if Bumrah was available to bowl in that final innings in Sydney. Even an early spell of four or five overs, who knows which way the match would have gone.”
