India captain Rohit Sharma justified Jasprit Bumrah's promotion to vice-captain for the three-Test series against New Zealand on Tuesday, citing the lead pacer as a key member of the leadership group with a solid "understanding" of the game.
India will play a three-match Test series against Tom Latham's team before heading to Australia for the Border Gavaskar Trophy. The Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune will host the second Test on October 24 and 28. The third and final Test will take place at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium from November 1 to 5.
India did not have a vice-captain during the Bangladesh Test series in recent times. However, the BCCI chose Jasprit Bumrah as the vice-captain for the New Zealand series.
This is because there are indications that Rohit Sharma would miss at least one test on the Australia trip owing to personal reasons, and having Bumrah as vice-captain will help the bowler transition into the skipper role when the time comes.
On October 10, PTI reported that Rohit is expected to miss at least one Test Down Under for personal reasons.
“Look, Bumrah has played a lot of cricket. I’ve played a lot of cricket with him. He understands the game pretty well. He’s got a good head on his shoulder. When you talk to him, he understands the game. Tactically, I can’t say much because he has not captained much. He was captain in one Test match and a couple of T20s, I guess,” Rohit told reporters during his pre-match press meet.
Bumrah captained India in the rescheduled Test against England in 2022, as well as the T20I series against Ireland the previous year.
“He understands what is required. When you are in a situation where you need a leader to step up, I think Bumrah will be one of them. So, over the past, he’s always been in our leadership group,” said Rohit.
The 37-year-old stated that his elite pacer has easily transitioned to the role of mentor to the team's younger pacers.
“Whether it is speaking to the bowlers who have just come into the squad, whether it is getting internally with the team to discuss about how to move forward as a team, he’s always been part of that leadership group. So, it’s probably the right thing to just have him around and speak to the bowlers and internally discuss how to take the team forward,” added Rohit.
(PTI inputs)
