Jasprit Bumrah is all set to enter record books as the India pacer gears up for his captaincy debut in the all-important Edgbaston Test against England. He will be the first ever pace bowler to lead the Indian side since Kapil Dev last donned the captaincy armband in 1987 against England at home in an ODI game. And moments after the big announcement on Thursday, Sri Lanka legend and Mahela Jayawardene was effusive in his praise for Bumrah and hailed the captaincy call as "incredible" and "brilliant".
Jayawardene hailed the change in trend of captaincy choice across the globe with teams preferring fast bowlers as skippers. Australia named Pat Cummins as the leader in Test cricket earlier this year while Ben Stokes was handed over the responsibility of England's red-ball team.
“I think it’s incredible if he (Bumrah) gets that opportunity. You rarely see fast bowlers being given that opportunity to captain because it’s a lot of hard work, especially whenever you are playing Test cricket," said the Sri Lankan batting legend in a video posted by ICC on Friday.
“But we’ve seen the trend changing, with Pat Cummins taking over the Australian (Test) captaincy and it’s great to see a bowler doing the job. They (bowlers) understand how the game flows, what needs to be done, and obviously your mind-set is to pick wickets… to be in a very positive mind frame. So, I think it will be brilliant (for Bumrah to be leading the Test side)," he added.
{{/usCountry}}“But we’ve seen the trend changing, with Pat Cummins taking over the Australian (Test) captaincy and it’s great to see a bowler doing the job. They (bowlers) understand how the game flows, what needs to be done, and obviously your mind-set is to pick wickets… to be in a very positive mind frame. So, I think it will be brilliant (for Bumrah to be leading the Test side)," he added.
{{/usCountry}}The Mumbai Indians head coach also talked about Bumrah's passion for red-ball cricket as he revealed his conversation on the same during their time at MI.
“It’s just the passion that he has to wear whites. We’ve had this conversation many years ago when he started playing Test cricket for India, and the more time we spent in the Mumbai (Indians) camp, it seems that Bumrah always wants to talk about red-ball cricket, he just loves it.
“It’s especially amazing that you come across fast bowlers who enjoy being out there playing Test cricket. It’s quite refreshing. He looks forward to each and every Test series. He doesn’t want to miss a single Test match for India, which is an asset to the country as he priorities his Test cricket very much," added Jayawardene.