India’s cricket team captain Rohit Sharma was caught in camera hitting Shubman Gill playfully ahead of the warm-up against Prime Minister’s XI on Sunday at Manuka Oval in Canberra. India eventually conquered the Prime Minister’s XI by six wickets, with star players Harshit Rana and Gill. Even though Rohit was in a light mood during the match and used to entertain everyone with small banter with Gill, Harshit, and assistant coach Abhishek Nayar in the dugout, Rohit was seen making fun of Gill by playfully elbowing him in the chest, bursting the little lad with laughter while sharing a joke with Nayar.
Now, it is adding that Cheteshwar Pujara has stepped firmly behind pace-ace Jasprit Bumrah as a long-run captain’s potential for India when Rohit would relinquish it. Pujara made the statement after Bumrah’s semblance of leadership as India triumphed over Australia, giving way to his potential in leading the side under pressure.
Pujara hailed Bumrah’s captaincy traits along with his team-first way of being. “He is (a viable long-term captaincy option) without any doubt,” Pujara said on ESPN Cricinfo. “The way he has showed that in difficult circumstances when we had a tough series at home and when you are playing a first Test match in Australia and to put up a show like that.”
“I think he has the capability of leading the team and he’s a team’s man. You look at him he never only talks about himself, he talks about the team, the other players. What advice he would give,” he added.
Bumrah has proven a point to an Indian audience by leading the team to a resounding victory in the first Test match against Australia while they had regular captain Rohit Sharma piloting them.
India’s tour of Australia began under challenging circumstances as the team was trying to recover from the wounds of home series sweeps by New Zealand-in which it had lost all three matches. Not only was this highly demoralizing, but it also virtually ruled out any possibility of India’s appearing for the third consecutive time in the final of the ICC World Test Championship.
But, Bumrah came to the fore with an electric first spell that took apart the Australian batting line-up at home. The performance seemed to have set the trend for a one-sided Indian victory and was a taste of his talent as a bowler but also of what he could do to inspire the team.
