Jasprit Bumrah shouldn’t look to become India team captain, urged former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali. He suggested that the speedster needed to just concentrate on bowling.
Basit’s words come after Jasprit Bumrah, in an interview with Indian Express’ show Express Adda, discussed how quick bowlers may become great leaders. He also thought it was unjust that pacers were generally ignored for leadership positions.
Bumrah also recalled successful captaincy spells by World Cup winners Kapil Dev and Imran Khan. Kapil Dev won the 1983 World Cup for India as captain and is the youngest skipper in history to do so at 24 years of age.
On the other hand, Imran Khan won the 1992 World Cup for Pakistan and is the oldest captain to win the World Cup at the age of 42.
Basit, however, disagreed with the bowler’s remarks. Basit Ali, a cricketer-turned-expert, stated that Dev and Khan were selected captains after establishing themselves as all-rounders.
“About Jasprit Bumrah’s statement, it’s just like how Babar Azam likes captaincy. In my opinion, he should not chase captaincy. He is a top-class bowler and should be focussing just on that. He gave the examples of Kapil Dev and Imran Khan’s captaincy.
However, they had become all-rounders, which is why they succeeded as captains. They were not appointed captains when they came into their teams as bowlers. This is the difference between a bowler and an all-rounder,” Basit said on his YouTube channel.
Jasprit Bumrah was named India’s stand-in skipper for the team’s one-off Test against England in Edgbaston in 2022. He also led the Men in Blue to a 2-0 victory in a three-game T20I series against Ireland last year.
Very few fast bowlers become good captains: Basit Ali on Jasprit Bumrah’s captaincy aspirations
Basit Ali also claimed that Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins has had a fruitful spell as captain. He did, however, believe that few pacers are capable of excelling as coaches or captains.
“He also spoke about Pat Cummins. Yes, Cummins is a good captain, but there are very few fast bowlers who can become a good coach or captain. My best wishes to Jasprit Bumrah. There is a chance that he could be made the captain after the Champions Trophy,” Basit added.
Jasprit Bumrah has been rested since his Player of the Tournament performance in India’s T20 World Cup 2024 win. He will be seen in action against Bangladesh in the upcoming Test series.
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