Published 08:10 IST, October 12th 2024
How Jasprit Bumrah's Vice Captaincy Return For New Zealand Series Lead To Possible BGT Captaincy
Jasprit Bumrah returned to his role as the vice captain of India for the New Zealand series. Could this also indicate a possible captaincy stint in the BGT?
India's squad for the upcoming New Zealand tests was announced last night. The squad announcement by the BCCI saw the return of Jasprit Bumrah back in the vice captaincy role for India. The India vs New Zealand is a three match test series that will be played in India. After the conclusion of the India-New Zealand series, India will then travel to Australia for the highly awaited Border-Gavaskar series against Australia. With Jasprit Bumrah coming back into the vice captaincy role, it could indicate that Bumrah be named captain of India for the Australian series.
India play the first test against New Zealand on 16th October.
What Bumrah's Vice Captaincy Could Mean For The Player and India?
Premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah was on Friday named vice-captain of India for the upcoming three-match home Test series against New Zealand, strongly indicating his possible elevation to the leadership role when the team travels to Australia from next month. The three-match series against the Kiwis will start on November 16 in Bengaluru, followed by the second Test in Pune from October 24 and third game in Mumbai from November 1.
As reported by PTI on October 10, regular captain Rohit Sharma could skip one of the first two Test matches in Australia owing to personal reasons.
The five-match Test series in Australia starts on November 22 in Perth and the second match will be held at Adelaide from December 6, and there is a possibility that Rohit could give either the first or the second game a miss.
Adding strength to that thought is the fact that India did not name a vice-captain for the recent home series against Bangladesh , which they won 2-0.
Bumrah has prior experience of leading the side as he wore the captain’s armband during the rescheduled fifth Test match against England in July 2022 at Edgbaston. He also led India in the away T20I series against Ireland in 2023.
Recently, Bumrah also reclaimed his No. 1 spot in the ICC bowlers’ ranking after a stellar effort against Bangladesh .
The 30-year-old has been in riveting form in red-ball cricket, grabbing 42 wickets from eight Tests after his comeback from an injury in August 2023. He has an excellent average of 14.69 in this period.
Overall, Bumrah has played 38 Tests, taking 170 wickets, averaging 20.18 with 10 five-wicket hauls.
All of this could indicate that Bumrah might have to lead India in their campaign against Australia once the BGT kicks off.
(With PTI Inputs)
Updated 08:12 IST, October 12th 2024