Former India captain Kapil Dev was recently asked about Rohit Sharma’s successor as a captain in Test cricket. As Rohit is reaching the twilight of his cricket career, the biggest question will be his captaincy replacement in Test cricket.
Currently, Jasprit Bumrah is India’s designated vice-captain and is the frontrunner to be the captain as well. However, when Kapil Dev was asked about Bumrah as the replacement for Rohit, he called it too early to judge despite his heroics in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia.
Kapil reckons that the sample size needs to be big in order to judge Jasprit Bumrah’s abilities as a captain. Bumrah has led India in just two Tests so far in which they have won and lost one game each.
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Kapil Dev speaks on Jasprit Bumrah as Rohit Sharma’s successor as Test captain
While speaking to the reporters at the launch of the Vishwa Samudra Open at Delhi Golf Club, Kapil Dev claimed that it is too early to judge Jasprit Bumrah’s leadership skills based on just one Test match.
“I think it’s too early to talk about that (Rohit Sharma‘s successor). With one performance, you can’t say he’s one of the best, and with one bad performance, you can’t say he doesn’t deserve to be there,” Kapil said.
Kapil, who is also the president of the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI), further mentioned that a player needs to lead in some matches and go through tough times. A player can only be judged through his decisions during his tough times.
“Let a player play a lot of cricket, take on a lot of captaincy, and go through ups and downs. Then you judge a person by how they reacted during the difficult times—not the good times. In good times, there’s no need for judgment,” he added.
Jasprit Bumrah led India in Perth
Jasprit Bumrah recently led India in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Perth as Rohit Sharma wasn’t available for the match. Bumrah led brilliantly as India thrashed Australia by a big margin of 295 runs.
Bumrah was also adjudged the Player of the Match for picking up eight wickets in the match. He picked up a magnificent five-wicket haul in the first innings and produced wickets at crucial intervals during the match.
Kapil Dev backs Virat Kohli
Meanwhile, Kapil Dev also backed Virat Kohli to come back into form in the ongoing series. Dev called Kohli one of “one of the best cricketers” for India and also named him among the top four cricketers of the country.
“We talk about character when someone is down or out. Take Virat Kohli, for example—one of the best cricketers this country has ever seen. If you list the top four cricketers, he will be there. So, if he’s going through a rough time, it’s up to him how fast he can bounce back and come back for the better,” the former India skipper reckoned.
Virat Kohli scored a brilliant hundred in the second innings of the first Test in Perth where he scored 100* off 143 balls. However, he registered scores of 7 and 11 in Adelaide, further raising questions over his technique against the moving ball.