Jasprit Bumrah as India full-time captain? Former batter warns against overburdening India pacer

Former India cricketer Abhishek Nayar shot down the idea of handing Jasprit Bumrah the full-time captaincy in international cricket, saying India would need the fast bowler more than his leadership skills. Nayar’s comments came after former wicketkeeper Kiran More backed Bumrah as a future full-time captain following India’s victory in a rain-affected T20I in Ireland on Friday, August 18.

Jasprit Bumrah returned to international cricket for the first time in 11 months and picked up 2 wickets in a sensational comeback spell in Dublin. Bumrah picked 2 wickets as early as his first over and bowled 16 dot balls as India restricted Ireland to 139 for 7 in 20 overs.

IRE vs IND 1st T20I: Report

It was Jasprit Bumrah’s first match as T20i captain and he shone by winning the Player of the Match award for his spell of 24 for 2 in 4 overs.

Bumrah was in the running for captaincy and it was evident when he stood in as the Test captain in a rescheduled Test match in England in 2022 after Rohit Sharma was ruled out. However, Bumrah has been struggling with injury woes and the latest back stress fracture kept him out of international cricket for 11 months and threatened his World Cup 2023 chances.

“He has to be given captaincy. He is a good thinker of the game. He is a potential future captain in Test cricket, across all formats as well. I have always believed fast bowlers make good captains,” Kiran More told JioCinema after India’s 2-run win via DLS.

DON’T OVERUSE HIM

Nayar, however, stressed that Bumrah needs to be allowed to focus on his bowling and that overburdening the express pacer is not the way to go forward.

Nayar also opined that Bumrah pushed himself a bit hard in the rescheduled Test where he captained India and that could have been the start of his back injury woes.

“It depends on his fitness. For a fast bowler to lead, we saw that with Pat Cummins in the Ashes. I think for you to bowl, play all formats and then lead, it can sometimes be a bit taxing, which is why we see batters taking over the mantle. Like they say, batting is an easier job.

“If we look at the Birmingham Test (in 2022), he bowled very long spells. I think in that (match), the number of overs that he bowled was the inception of his back going for a toss because as a bowler, you constantly want to win games. So you tend to push yourself a bit more.

“You can’t have Jasprit Bumrah get injured in the process of doing that. For T20Is, makes sense. For longer formatsâ€æ makes sense but I would just say ‘save him and keep him for important tournaments’ and make sure we don’t overburden him and overuse him. Let him enjoy his game because captaincy doesn’t let you enjoy your game,” he added.

The severity of Bumrah’s injury in October 2022 necessitated surgery, which was successfully performed in New Zealand. Following the surgery, Bumrah embarked on a rigorous rehabilitation program at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru as he raced against time to be fit for the Asia Cup and the World Cup.