Why India will miss Bumrah the captain when Sharma is back from 2nd Test onwards

“I don’t look at it as a post, I love responsibility. I wanted to do the tough job since I was a child. I always want to be in the thick of things, want to be thrown against tough scenarios. This adds a new challenge for me.”
Jasprit Bumrah can talk a good talk. He can also walk it too, as history and, more recently, the final of the T20 World Cup against South Africa, will testify.
A little over ten days back, on his arrival in Perth in preparation for the five-Test series against Australia, Bumrah was informed by head coach Gautam Gambhir that he would lead the team in the first Test, in the absence of Rohit Sharma. It was always on the cards that Rohit would miss the first Test with the birth of his second child imminent, and that Bumrah, the designated vice-captain, would take charge on a temporary basis. But when official confirmation came from the coach, Bumrah readied for a challenge not entirely unfamiliar, considering he had led against England in Birmingham in June 2022.
That game hadn’t ended well, India failing to defend a fourth-innings target in excess of 375 and going down by seven wickets.
Bumrah’s second tilt at the captaincy has been an infinitely more pleasant experience, though he would have wondered if an encore was on the cards after his side was blown away for 150 at tea on Friday, the opening day of the first Test. Bumrah had done his side a good turn by calling right at the toss, batting first an obvious choice considering that with the cracks likely to open up as the game progresses, batting last would be a hazardous proposition. But he wouldn’t have bargained for his lengthy batting line-up keeling over for 150, never mind the generous lateral movement Australia’s pedigreed quick bowlers extracted.
Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and skipper Pat Cummins are past masters at exploiting any assistance, especially in their own backyard, but not for nothing is Bumrah hailed as the premier all-format bowler of his generation. He didn’t take long to get into the act, scything through Australia’s top order in a sensational opening burst of 6-2-9-3. He would have had a fourth in that spell had Virat Kohli at second slip not shelled Marnus Labuschagne, but the captain returned late in the evening to get rid of his counterpart, finishing with four for 17 in ten terrific overs to ensure that his team had their noses in front at the draw of stumps.
No praise can be too high for the manner in which Bumrah marshalled his resources. He received dollops of advice from Kohli and Rishabh Pant, but he was largely his own man, moving the pieces around adroitly, working his fellow quicks Mohammed Siraj and debutant Harshit Rana around and ensuring that he wasn’t distracted or weighed down by the added responsibility of looking out for ten others on the park.
On the eve of the match, he had claimed that captaincy meant he had the freedom to decide when and where to bring himself on, how much to stretch himself and when to pull back. He was true to that claim, going full tilt in his first six overs when he set the tone by hitting the perfect length on a track with excellent bounce and carry. That two of his first three victims, debutant opener Nathan McSweeney and established pro Steve Smith, were trapped in front testifies to the fact that it didn’t take him long to hit the ‘Australian’ length – between four and six metres – quickly and on a sustained basis.
He didn’t overreact when Kohli reprieved Labuschagne – in any case, Bumrah’s celebrations are seldom over the top – and showcased his smarts and conviction in the McSweeney dismissal when he pinged the right-hander in front with a full ball that slanted back in. His only question to those around the bat was if McSweeney had nicked the ball onto his pad. When the answer was in the negative, he immediately opted for the review after Richard Kettleborough turned down the confident shout, and was rewarded with three reds on the DRS challenge.
Bumrah attacked just enough, packing the close-in cordon behind the stumps but not setting fancy fields, not even when he was on a hat-trick after picking up Usman Khawaja and Smith off successive deliveries. He got the best out of Siraj and Rana in long spells of control and hostility, and he had the whole-hearted support of his colleagues. All in all, a great day in office for skipper Bumrah.