Bumrah can withstand Aussie pressure: Shastri
Former India captain and coach Ravi Shastri has backed Jasprit Bumrah to withstand pressure of leading the Indian team in the absence of incumbent Rohit Sharma. The Australian team is known to put pressure on the visiting captain with the hope that it may dent the confidence of the team. Shastri, who was coach when India won their second successive series Down Under, said Bumrah was capable of returning the favour.
“The Aussies prefer to attack the leadership. Whoever the captain is, they train their guns and their spotlights on the captain. If they can bring down the confidence of the captain, they feel that the confidence of the team comes down. The pressure will be on Bumrah. There’s no question about that. Any captain coming here will feel the heat, and Bumrah will be the same. But he is a very mature cricketer. He is a competitive cricketer,” Shastri said.
“Deep down, let us not forget, he is the best fast bowler in the world at the moment. So, the Aussies know what they are up against. They might want to come after him, but they know he will come after them as well. The important thing is, if he is calm and gets support from his other bowlers, I think he will be fine. But there’s no question the pressure is on him. What I want to see from the outside is that he doesn’t over-try because of the pressure of being captain and just sticks to his strengths and bowls as if he is an individual player. It is easier said than done, but I think he is mature enough to do it,” he added.
Even Cheteshwar Pujara backed Bumrah to fill in the void left by Rohit. “Bumrah is someone who is very smart. As a bowler, you need to know your strengths and strategies really, really well. Whenever he is running in, he is always looking to pick wickets. When you want to pick wickets as a bowler, you need to think about the game. You need to think about how you can get a batter out, what the options are, and what plans you need to set to get the batter out. That is something which will help him as a captain,” said Pujara whose dogged batting became the reason for India’s back to back series wins in Australia.
“On the field, you need to know how many overs to bowl or when to rotate your bowlers. Bumrah understands that. He is also very supportive of all the players. He understands what is required of a particular player and won’t put too much pressure on anyone. If someone isn’t performing well, he will always be there to support them. The one thing I would say is that when he is captaining, he has to think for himself. There will be many inputs, but as captain, the final decision should always be his call,” he added.
