Jasprit Bumrah won't ‘jump in' to give suggestions to India Test captain Shubman Gill: ‘Want him to be free-thinking'

Hindustan Times

5 hours ago

Jasprit Bumrah, easily the biggest match-winner in the current Indian Test side and by his own admission the first-choice for the captaincy if it weren't for workload management, said he wouldn't "jump in" to provide inputs to new India Test skipper Shubman Gill but will be there whenever he needs him. The five-match Test series against England, starting June 20 in Leeds, will mark the beginning of a new era in Indian cricket post the retirement of three stalwarts Ravichandran Ashwin, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
Gill, along with vice-captain Rishabh Pant, will be the flagbearers of the new-age Indian team. Among the experienced cricketers in the current squad, only Bumrah and KL Rahul have previously led India in a Test match. Bumrah was, in fact, the selectors' first choice to succeed Rohit, but he said he called the board to inform them about his workload management, which prevents him from taking full-time captaincy of the Test side.
Bumrah led India in three Tests, all of them away from home. The first one was in England when Rohit was out due to Covid. India lost that Test. The next chapter in Bumrah's leadership came in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia earlier this year when Rohit missed the first Test due to the birth of his second child. Bumrah led India from the front to give the side a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. He was back as captain in the final Test in the Sydney Test, but unfortunately, could not take part in the second innings after a stress injury in the back ruled him out for a couple of months.
That was the injury that forced Bumrah to give up his dream of becoming India's full-time Test captain. When asked by former teammate Dinesh Karthik about the role he would play to guide Gill against England, Bumrah said he believes in giving freedom to the leader.
"In my experience, I feel that you have to give freedom and you have to be there for him. So I am there for him whenever he needs me in whatever capacity. I don't want to jump in, and if I see something, I can give a quiet word. But I want, that's how I have played cricket. I want a person to be free. I want the person to be free-thinking, and operate as he wants," He said on SKY Sports.
Gill has led Gujarat Titans in two IPL season but is yet to lead in the longer format. He obviously has a thought process. He's young and energetic. So he wants that. And that is how it should be. So whenever he comes up to me, whenever he's had discussions with me, I'm always there for his support. And whatever he needs out of me, I'm more than happy to give it.
Like Gill, head coach Gautam Gambhir will also be the focus, as he will have a new team. Bumrah said Gambhir is a man of few words and likes to speak to the players individually.
"He's a person who's very individualistic. He'll not have big conversations. He'll not have a massive meeting. But he'll have one-on-one chats with people where he feels that he wants to (16:26) interfere or he feels that, you know, the people are going in this direction. And he has his two pieces of advice. So I think he's handling a different phase, an interesting phase in Indian cricket," Bumrah said.
"Two tours ago, our team was completely different. Right now, it's heading towards a transition. So obviously, it's an interesting phase and you require a lot more patience and a lot of, you know, calm."