"Forget about a Ranji Trophy team, he has not even led a club side.": Karsan Ghavri criticizes Jasprit Bumrah's selection as Test Captain

India was 2-1 up in the England vs India Test series and was about to make history by defeating them at home. However, things changed as the series had to stop in between and some rapid changes caused India to change the captain as well. However, newly appointed captain Rohit Sharma could not take the field due to Covid-19 and pacer Jasprit Bumrah was chosen to lead the Indian men at Edgbaston. He became the second Indian pacer to captain the team Test cricket after legendary Kapil Dev.

But, it did not go that well for Bumrah as India could not hold on to the lead and was beaten by England by 7 wickets. Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow did all the hitting as they chased down a record total of 378 in the fourth innings. Karsan Ghavri, the former Indian pacer who took 109 test wickets in 39 matches thinks Bumrah was not even the right candidate to lead the side.

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Kohli should led India

According to him when Rohit Sharma tested positive with Covid-19, India should have gone with Virat Kohli as the captain for the one-off test match. "When Rohit Sharma was not available for this Test , Kohli should have stepped up and said that I will take up the responsibility to lead this team. Winning and losing is a part of the game, but in such a difficult situation, I felt Kohli should have put his hand up," Karsan Ghavri told Mid Day.

Execution issue

Then he went on add that, "Bumrah has never captained any team. Forget about a Ranji Trophy team, he has not even led a club side. Look, a captain's mind is totally different. He needs to keep thinking about making field placements and effecting bowling changes and strategising throughout. In the dressing room, I'm sure Rahul Dravid and the other coaches made a lot of plans, but when the 11 players go onto the field, the captain must execute them. Bumrah couldn't do that."

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Everything else is an extra burden for Bumrah

Ghavri feels not all fast blowers can be good captain. The former left arm pacer feels that Jasprit Bumrah is a world-class bowler. However, a fast bowler like Bumrah who is most of times is focused on his own bowling, was not able to execute the plans perfectly. "Everything else is an extra burden on him and not all can handle that. That's why a pure batsman is always the best candidate for captaincy," Ghavri expressed.

Karsan Ghavri also did not like India's approach against Root and Bairstow. He felt although those two batters played like champions, India's negative line helped them as well. As per him, India was too defensive trying to save runs instead to trying to take wickets.