Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting says Jasprit Bumrah can lead India to a victory when the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy game begins in Perth on November 22 in the absence of skipper Rohit Sharma.
Rohit Sharma said he was 'not sure' of his availability for the Perth Test against Australia. Among the probable runners to lead India, Bumrah is one name in the fray.
He had captained India against England at Edgbaston, Birmingham in the rescheduled fifth Test in 2022 after Rohit was forced to sit out due to a reported positive Covid-19 result.
Yeah, that (captaincy) is probably the hardest thing for him. And I think that was always the question on Pat Cummins when he became the Australian Test captain as well – how much is he going to bowl himself? Is he going to bowl himself too much? Is he not going to bowl himself enough?
But someone as experienced as Jasprit will understand the times when he needs to be bowling, when he needs to have a spell. Guys like that tend to thrive on the extra pressure and the responsibility. He's always been the leader of the attack for a long time anyway. Whether that's red ball, T20 or ODIs, he's the main man," said Ponting in an interview on The ICC Review show.
He also thinks that Bumrah would benefit as a captain from the experience of campaigners like Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Rishabh Pant who have toured Australia before.
There is a lot of experience around him in this Indian team. And I think it's really important to use the experience around you, even when you are the captain, and just ask the appropriate questions at the right time because no matter how much cricket we've played, we're not always going to be right, he added.
Ponting concluded by conceding Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, and Justin Langer had helped him much in his time as the Test captain of Australia. "I liked to ask the questions of Gilchrist, Hayden, and Langer. Ask them where they thought the game was, and what we needed to do.". It's just that at the end of the day, as a captain, you are the one that's making that final decision, but whatever advice you can get along the way can only be good.
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