If given chance, it will be an honour to lead India: Bumrah

Paarl (South Africa): India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah on Monday said he is not averse to leading the national team if an opportunity comes knocking at his door in the near future. With Virat Kohli’s captaincy tenure in all formats coming to an end following his resignation from Test leadership, there are questions about who […]

Paarl (South Africa): India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah on Monday said he is not averse to leading the national team if an opportunity comes knocking at his door in the near future.

With Virat Kohli’s captaincy tenure in all formats coming to an end following his resignation from Test leadership, there are questions about who could be his long-term successor considering that Rohit Sharma will be 35 next year.

“If given an opportunity, it will be an honour and I don’t see any player (who) would say no and I am no different,” Bumrah, who is KL Rahul’s deputy for the ODI series against South Africa, replied to a query in a press conference ahead of the three-match rubber starting Wednesday.

“Be it any leadership group, I always look to contribute however I can, to the best of my abilities,” he added.

Bumrah said taking responsibility and helping teammates comes naturally to him. “I look at this situation in the same manner…taking responsibility and talking to players and helping them out has always been my approach and it will always be my approach going further keeping any situation in mind.”

The India pace spearhead believes that there would be no tangible change in his role although he is the vice-captain now. “Having post or not doesn’t matter. I always focus on how I can contribute,” he said.

“For me, the role doesn’t change at all. I have to do my job first, isn’t it? Trying to contribute as much as I can and then helping KL if he needs any assistance on the field and sharing a bowler’s mindset on what kind of fields you can keep that I always look to do,” Bumrah said.

He also revealed that Kohli had informed the team in a meeting after the Cape Town Test about his decision of leaving the captaincy. “We have been very close as a team unit. He told us in a meeting that he will be stepping down from the Test captaincy. He informed us of this as a team and we respect his decision and value his leadership a lot. We congratulated him as a team for his contribution to the Test team as a leader and wished him all the best. This was the conversation we had with him,” said.

Bumrah further said that former skipper Kohli will always be a leader in the group.
His comments come after Kohli announced on Saturday that he will step down from the Test captaincy with immediate effect.

The upcoming three-match ODI series against South Africa, starting from Wednesday in Paarl, will be his first white-ball series as a player.

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