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India vs Australia: In the absence of Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah will lead India in the first Test against Australia, which is scheduled to start at Optus Stadium in Perth on Friday.
Jasprit Bumrah will lead India in first Test against Australia. (Picture Credit: AFP)
India vs Australia: Indian captain Rohit Sharma will miss the first Test of the five-match series against Australia due to the birth of his second child. In his place, vice captain Jasprit Bumrah will lead the Indian team in the series opener at Optus Stadium in Perth from Friday (November 22). The 30-year-old pacer made his red-ball captaincy debut on July 1, 2022, against England, and now, after more than 29 months, he is getting a chance to lead the side again.
For Bumrah, captaincy is not a post. While speaking to reporters in Perth on Thursday in the pre-match press conference, the star fast bowler, who has 32 wickets to this name in seven Tests against Australia, said he always loves to take responsibility, and there’s no bigger honour for him than to lead the side.
“I don’t look at it (captaincy) as a post. I love responsibility. I wanted to do the tough job since I was a child. So you always want to be in the thick of things. You want to be thrown against tough scenarios. So, this is one of them as well.”
“This adds a new challenge to me. I always have been wanting to add more, and even when Rohit (Sharma) was there or when Virat (Kohli) was there, I tried to add inputs and learn from them. And then, when I became a senior player as well, when new guys started coming in, I started passing on what I learnt. So, I look at it this way, and it feels good.”
“There’s no greater honour than this. As a child, I always wanted to play this format (Test) and lead India in Test cricket. Very few number of players have played Test cricket for India, and captains are even less so. Yeah, I’m very privileged and very happy to be in this position,” he added.
Bumrah, who suffered a 7-wicket defeat in his first Test as captain, would like to join the elite list of Indian cricketers who have won a Test match in Australia. Bishan Singh Bedi was the first Indian skipper to win a red-ball match Down Under, and he was followed by Sunil Gavaskar, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Virat Kohli, and Ajinkya Rahane.
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