The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) made its preference clear as the India squad for the Test series against New Zealand was announced. While Rohit Sharma remains the captain of the team, the BCCI selection committee officially put the vice-captain tag on pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who has been widely recognised as India’s most important player at present. Though Bumrah doesn’t have much captaincy experience, he has been a part of the leadership group for a long time. 

Ahead of the first Test against New Zealand, Rohit was asked about Bumrah’s leadership, considering the fact that he has now officially been given the vice-captain’s tag. The Hitman explained how much he has welcomed Bumrah’s inputs during matches, even though he doesn’t have a lot of captaincy experience at any level.

“Look, Bumrah has played a lot of cricket. I’ve played a lot of cricket with him. He understands the game pretty well. He’s got a good head on his shoulder. When you talk to him, he understands the game,” Rohit told reporters during his pre-match press meet after rain hampered India’s training session.

“Tactically, I can’t say much because he has not captained much. He was captain in one Test match and a couple of T20s, I guess,” he added.

“He understands what is required. When you are in a situation where you need a leader to step up, I think Bumrah will be one of them. So, over the past, he’s always been in our leadership group,” said Rohit.

Being the most experienced pacer in the team, Bumrah has also been tasked with the responsibility of helping young pacers in the team.

“Whether it is speaking to the bowlers who have just come into the squad, whether it is getting internally with the team to discuss about how to move forward as a team, he’s always been part of that leadership group.

“So, it’s probably the right thing to just have him around and speak to the bowlers and internally discuss how to take the team forward,” added Rohit. 

Rohit also spoke about the potential return of Bumrah’s pace bowling partner Mohammed Shami. The India skipper all but ruled out Shami’s inclusion for the Australia tour, suggesting the veteran speedster remains undercooked.

“To be honest, right now, it’s pretty difficult for us to make a call on him, whether he’ll be fit for this series or the Australia series. He recently had swelling on his knee, which was quite unusual,” Rohit said.

“He was in the process of getting fit, getting close to 100 percent, he had swelling in his knee, that put him back a little bit in his recovery. So, he had to start again. Right now, he’s at NCA, he’s working with the physios and the doctors at NCA,” he added.