India’s star speedster Jasprit Bumrah has opened up about his personal perspective on the captaincy of the Indian cricket team. He is Team India’s current vice-captain for the ongoing Sri Lanka series.
He was rested for the recent West Indies tour at home but returned for the ongoing bilateral series against Sri Lanka, and in the absence of KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant, he was named India's vice-captain for the home series, with Rohit Sharma becoming the captain of all formats.
After India’s clean sweep in the T20I series over Sri Lanka, Bumrah said that captaincy is just a post for him and he never wants to take up the role just for the sake of personal satisfaction.
Bumrah told R Ashwin on his YouTube channel: “I don't like to chase things because I don't want to. See I am a person who believes that God has a plan and everything will find out its own way, so I don't like to hamper things that are there. I never try to change anything. Whatever role is asked of me I would do it with the best ability that I can. I don't want to change the whole organization; you are always a leader when you are a senior member of the team so it's just a post that comes with you.”
He continued, “Basically, you try to help all the people in whatever capacity you can. Even in Mumbai Indians, you have got a lot of senior players but now I am one of the senior players as well so you help the captain, you help everyone; you play the leadership role even when you are not asked to.
That's how I look at it. I never want to, you know, just for personal satisfaction has that okay I want to be in this I have to be the captain. It's just a post, it's just a name, you have to do your job and you have to help people in the best way you can.”
However, Bumrah has made it clear that the captaincy isn’t something he is looking for, but if he is given that honor, he will be open to taking it.
He added, “Yes, if given an opportunity at any scenario, it would be an honor and I would never ever shy away from that, but it is something that I don't go looking for, that is how I look at the leadership aspect of the game.”
Bumrah has been playing under Rohit Sharma since his debut for the Mumbai Indians (MI) in 2013 in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Speaking about his equation with the skipper, he said: “He has a lot of trust and that is always the best place for me as a bowler because, then, I have got the freedom to do whatever I want to. That is really beneficial for me as a bowler and it's very important for me going further.”
The pacer signed off by saying, “He has had that trust because he has followed whatever I have said, asked for a field and that has worked so the relationship has really developed. Rohit is known for his calm demeanor and leads the team by example, something that has impressed Bumrah.”
(ANI inputs)
