India’s premier fast bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, has said that it was beyond his “pay grade” to ask for the top leadership position of the team. He emphasized that bowlers could also be good leaders as they are clever and tough.
This conversation comes as India tries to find a new captain after Rohit Sharma retired from playing in T20 Internationals. When talks about Rohit’s successor started, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya were mentioned first.
Bumrah also came up in discussions related to new captaincy, despite not being among the favourites for the post. Eventually, the T20I team led by batsman Suryakumar Yadav instead of favorite Hardik Pandya. Bumrah believes on leadership and role of bowlers before 1st Sri Lanka series under his new head coach Gautam Gambhir.
In an interview with The Parami News Adda, Bumrah explains how tricky it is to advocate for oneself when they want a captaincy.
“Me going to the team and saying ‘now make me the captain’ is beyond my pay grade. I think smart people are bowlers because batters have to be gotten out by us.” “We are always fighting odds with shorter grounds better bat,” he added. I don’t know any article or technology making it possible to swing so much on this planet earth do you? Bumrah said.
Bumrah went on pointing out how different a challenge facing a bowler is: their profession requires them to be more innovative than other players.
“Bowlers do the hard job. They are not hiding behind a bat like some people do; neither do they hide behind flat wickets like others do.” “You lose a game but you blame it on bowlers every time.” “It’s a tough job;” he says adding that he feels proud doing it. “A lot of challenging things come by. Bowlers find ways to succeed because of those challenges. If you fight the odds every day, it makes you a braver person and captaincy requires braveness,” he further said.
Bumrah gives an example of fine bowlers who turned excellent captains, such as Pat Cummins from Australia, who led his team to win the ODI World Cup and World Test Championship titles, and former great bowlers like Wasim Akram, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan and others.
“We’ve seen what Pat Cummins has done.” “I have seen Wasim Akram captaining.” “Kapil Dev or Imran Khan winning a World Cup.” “Bowlers are the clever ones;” he added. Sometimes physically it’s stressful so leadership goes to batters.“In my opinion, bowlers are the cleverest.”
Bumrah also speaks about how outcomes can shift opinions through results just like in his unorthodox bowling action;
“Perception changes with results.” “I came from a perception that this bowling action will not work but now people try to copy it.” “You don’t say anything; your performance does all the talking for you.” A good example is Pat Cummins. I had many successes with him as well. He won a world cup and wtc conference. I don’t think that’s a burden. “When you play cricket, you want responsibility,” Bumrah explained.
