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Just a couple of days are left before India take on the hosts England for a five-match Test series starting on June 20. It will be a new challenge for the new-looking Indian team as three of their key senior players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin have called off their respective Test careers ahead of the England tour. After that, Shubman Gill was appointed as new Test captain of India with Rishabh Pant as his deputy.
However, before the Indian squad was announced for the England series, there were few players along with Shubman Gill who were also in the race to take the leadership role with fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah being one of them. Bumrah was India’s Test vice-captain before Rohit Sharma’s red-ball retirement but hasn’t been included in the leadership role for the upcoming Test series. Recently, Bumrah himself revealed why he wasn’t made India’s Test captain.
I had spoken to the BCCI about my workloads going forward: Jasprit Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah finally broke silence on him not being appointed as captain for the upcoming series in England. The fast bowler revealed that he was in the plans for the leadership role but he himself denied the BCCI to manage his workload. Notably, Bumrah will play only three of the five Test matches as the team management doesn’t want to take risk with his fitness. Bumrah suffered a back pain during the fifth Test against Australia in Sydney in January and wasn’t seen in action for three months.
"Before Rohit and Virat retired during the IPL, I had spoken to the BCCI about my workloads going forward in a five-test match series. I've spoken to the people who have managed my back. I've spoken to the surgeon as well, who's always spoken to me about how smart you have to be about the workloads. So I did speak to him, and then we came to the conclusion that I have to be a little smarter. So then I called the BCCI and said I don't want to be looked at in a leadership role because I won't be able to give all the Test matches in a five-test match series," Bumrah said in his interview with Sky Sports.
"Yes, the BCCI was looking at me for leadership. But then I had to say, no, that it's not fair for the team as well, that, you know, a five-Test match series, three matches, somebody else is leading, two matches, somebody else is leading. It's not fair to the team. And I always wanted to put the team first," he further added.
