ENG vs IND: 'Biggest achievement of my career,' Jasprit Bumrah reacts to being named Test captain
Jasprit Bumrah has expressed his delight about being given the opportunity to lead India in the upcoming Test against England, calling it the "biggest achievement" of his career.
After Rohit Sharma was ruled out of the rescheduled fifth Test, which is due to begin on Friday (July 1), the BCCI named Bumrah the stand-in skipper for the game. He is set to become India's 36th Test skipper and also first fast bowler to captain India in Tests since Kapil Dev in 1987.
"This is a huge achievement, a huge honour. Playing a Test match for the country was my dream and getting this opportunity is the biggest achievement of my career," Bumrah said at the pre-match conference on Thursday.
When reporters asked him if he learnt from former captains like MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli, Bumrah said that he loves to learn from the best before adding that his aim is not to emulate anyone and will make his own decisions at the end of the day.
"See these are legends of the game, and they have contributed a lot. But I won't be emulating anyone. I listen to advises from all. And try to learn from everyone. But obviously, as your instincts say that you can't be the same as everyone. I try to learn from everyone, but I take the call on my own," the fast bowler added.
India currently lead the series 2-1 ahead of the fifth and final Test against England. The hosts are coming full of confidence after beating New Zealand 3-0 at home.
Bumrah's mother gave him a few tricks, tips: Sanjana Ganesan
Meanwhile, Bumrah's wife Sanjana Ganesan has revealed the reaction of Bumrah's mother to him being named India's captain for the one-off Test. Ganesan said that Bumrah's mother was very happy and even had a few tips and tricks to provide to the Indian pacer ahead of his first assignment as skipper.
"She's very excited. She's always liked to see him do well because he loves the sport and she's literally seen the entire journey he's gone through to get to where he is. She was ecstatic when she found out. She had tons of tips and tricks, even though she's never played cricket herself! Like a mother does, she told him, 'This should be how you think, and this should be what you do," Sanjana told ICC.
Sanjana, who is a sports anchor, also revealed that Bumrah was given enough time to absorb and understand the decision.
"He hasn't had it all in one impact, because it [the confirmation of the news] has been pretty trickled. In the sense that we had to wait for a result from Rohit [Sharma] to find out whether or not Jasprit will be leading the side.
"So it was a lot of wait-and-watch because there were (Covid-19) tests in the morning and evening, and they wanted to be entirely sure they were doing everything they could to give Rohit a fair chance to come back and play this Test," added Sanjana.
"[Bumrah] got a lot of time to absorb and understand that this was really happening. He's proud and definitely very happy about it. I don't know if there is a little bit of nerves, but he's had enough time to absorb it all," she said further.