Indiarecent defeat in Granica-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia it raised the curtain on some serious questions regarding the future of Indian cricket. One such important thing is the future leadership of the team. People within the cricketing community and beyond have raised the issue of looking beyond the leadership of the current Indian skipper Rohit Sharma. However, his recent failures against New Zealand and a 1-3 loss to Australia in the 2024-25 BGT made questions about his leadership more relevant than ever.
Sunil Gavaskar is open about who should be the next captain of the Indian team
Former Indian skipper and legend Sunil Gavaskar he had some interesting thoughts on the role of leadership within the Indian team. Gavaskar, who was in Australia covering the 5-match Test series as a television anchor, recently highlighted an Indian player who, according to him, carries the personality of a leader and is therefore suitable to be the next captain of the Indian cricket team.
“With Bumrah, you can see that he expects the others to do what is their job and why they are in the national team. But he doesn’t seem to be pressuring anyone. And with fast bowlers, he was absolutely brilliant. Standing in the middle, in the middle. Every time he was on hand to tell and guide them. I think he’s been absolutely brilliant and I won’t be surprised if he takes over very soon.” Gavaskar said further Channel 7 speaking of Jasprit Bumrah.
Additionally, Gavaskar highlighted the reason why he thinks Bumrah is the perfect person to lead the Indian team and the qualities he brings as a person are crucial for a player to captain the team.
“He could be the next man. I think he will be the next man. Because he leads from the front. He has a very good look. The atmosphere of the leader. But not someone who will put pressure on you. Sometimes you have captains who put a lot of pressure on you,” Gavaskar concluded.
Also read: Steve Harmison expresses uncertainty over Sam Kontas’ Test career trajectory after theatrical performance in BGT 2024-25 against India
The Indian star’s record as a captain
The 31-year-old Indian pacer recently led the Indian team during the first Test match of the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. in Perth. The Indian team performed exceptionally well in the Test match and defeated the Australians convincingly by 295 runs. Bumrah was called upon to captain the team for the second time during the last Test match after captain Rohit opted out of the Sydney match. Bumrah continued his exceptional performance in Sydney and claimed 2 crucial wickets in Australia’s first innings. However, the Indian pacer could not continue bowling for his team on the third day of the match due to back spasm. This proved detrimental to the visitors as Australia managed to reach the target of 162 runs for the loss of just 4 wickets to win the series.
Also read: ICC ranks all 5 venues for Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25; SCG gets the lowest rating
