England series: Jasprit Bumrah opens up on why he refused Test captaincy

Jasprit Bumrah, the Indian pace warhead, gave an early heads-up that he would not want to compromise on his workload in the upcoming five-Test series against England this time. He is not looking at more than three Tests in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy for now and made it clear this is what made him forsake his Test captaincy claims.

“Plan on the go. Three Test matches is what I’m looking at,” Bumrah said in an interview with Dinesh Karthik on Sky Sports. “Obviously, the number is not decided. First (Test) is definitely on, that is going to happen. Rest, we will see how things are, what is the workload and scenario... but yes. Three Tests is what I can manage at the moment.” The task will hence be clearly cut out for the likes of Prasiddh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh & Co. to rise to the occasion in the Tests that Bumrah will not be available.

The shift in his thinking is clear as only late last year, the 31-year-old pace ace had put his body on the line by shouldering India’s attack virtually singlehandedly in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He ended up with 32 wickets to emerge as Player of the Series despite the tourists losing the series but the back injury flared up during the final Test at Sydney, forcing him to pull out midway in the match. 

Bumrah insisted that he doesn't want to exert himself in the longest format and added that the major reason behind his decision to refuse Indian captaincy was his concerns surrounding workload management. It’s quite a shift from his thinking ahead of the Australia series where he had put up his hand for captaincy and led India to a dramatic win in the first Test at Perth at Rohit Sharma’s absence as well as the fifth Test.

“I don't want to be in a desperate scenario. That is one part as well. If I would’ve been a captain, I can't be dictating that I can only play three Test matches. That doesn't send a good message to the team. I want to be at my best as a player and contribute to the best of my capability,” said Bumrah.

Shubman Gill will lead the Indian Test team for the first time during the series against England. Bumrah had been India’s vice-captain under Rohit’s leadership and had been an obvious candidate for the role, but the priority before him is to pick and choose his matches to prolong his career. Rishabh Pant is the vice-captain of the new-look team.