Former selector Saba Karim expressed his astonishment at Jasprit Bumrah appointment as South Africa ODIs. According to him, Rishabh Pant had more chances to be named the vice-captain.
Rohit Sharma was appointed as the limited-overs captain ahead of the ODI series against South Africa. Still, he was unavailable for the ODI series due to his injury.
In such a case, the team captaincy was handed over to KL Rahul, and Jasprit Bumrah was, made his deputy despite the presence of Virat Kohli, who was removed as the captain of ODI last month.
Chetan Sharma named an 18-Man Squad. On 31 December, the BCCI head Chetan Sharma said that this would be an excellent opportunity for Jasprit Bumrah to join the leadership group. They are willing to groom some players for future management roles.
Making Bumrah part of the leadership group was lauded by a few; at the same time, it was also criticized by some people, including the former national selector and wicketkeeper Saba Karim.
Saba Karim wanted Rishab Pant to be the Vice-Captain instead of Bumrah.
Saba Karim expressed her astonishment and said that she was expecting Jasprit Bumrah to be made the vice-captain; she said that she was hoping that Rishabh Pant had more chances to become the vice-captain because he is a multi-format player playing all three formats.
“Pant’s performances as captain of Delhi Capitals was amazing as he has lot of game awareness. Jasprit Bumrah has the talent, his role is significant for the Indian team, but he has not been captained anywhere. So, it is slightly surprising. I felt that Rishabh Pant was the first candidate as vice-captain.”
Even though Jasprit Bumrah is a significant part of the Indian Cricket team, he lacks leadership experience. Parallel to this, both Shreyas Iyer and Rishab Pant have played important leadership roles. Both were successful captains of the Delhi Capitals.
In February 2017, Pant was named Delhi’s captain for the 2016–17 Vijay Hazare Trophy. Shreyas Iyer was the leading run-scorer for Mumbai in the tournament.
He was also the captain of the Vijay Hazare trophy tournament 2018-2019. Iyer was named the India B’s Squad captain for the 2018–19 Deodhar Trophy.
Team
KL Rahul (Capt.), Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaekwad, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan, Y Chahal, R Ashwin, W Sundar, J Bumrah (VC), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj.
