Sunil Gavaskar, the legendary former cricketer and broadcaster, believes that Jasprit Bumrah might become India’s future captain after Rohit Sharma and will take over ‘very soon’. Considering Bumrah’s qualities, Gavaskar said that the pacer ‘leads from the front’ and is readily available as a helping hand to all his bowlers, without putting any added pressure on them.
Bumrah captained India in the first and last Tests of the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. India destroyed the first match in Perth, but lost the last by six wickets in Sydney. Bumrah’s performance in both matches was brilliant-with the ball and at the helm-but he missed the Sydney Test’s final innings through injury, giving Australia an easier target to chase down 162 on a spicy track.
“Next up could be him. I think he will be the next person. Because he leads from the front. He has a great air about himself. That leadership air. But not the pressure kind,” Gavaskar said on 7Cricket.
“With Bumrah, you can see that he expects the others to do what their job is and why they’re in the national team. But he doesn’t seem to pressurize anybody. And with the fast bowlers, he has been absolutely brilliant. Standing at mid-off, mid-on. Every time he was on hand to tell them and guide them. I think he was absolutely brilliant, and I won’t be surprised if he takes over very soon,” added Gavaskar.
Jasprit Bumrah was given the opportunity to lead the cricket team twice in Australia as Rohit Sharma was not part of the Perth Test for personal reasons and opted out from the Sydney Test citing his bad form as the reason. The captaincy regarding whites of India is now up for discussion after the disastrous 3-1 series loss in Australia.
The latest and multiple reports make it known that BCCI will shortly convene review meetings regarding the future of the team’s leadership for Tests and ODIs.
And while Bumrah, as vice-captain, should naturally be a frontrunner, he should be able to qualify as a major obstacle owing to workload issues. As it stands now, India has only him among the full-fledged players, and arguably, he is the best due to his set of skills. Therefore, if India does opt for appointing him as captain, most probably they would have to find a good deputy to lead when Bumrah is unavailable.
