Bumrah will thrive as captain if he leads in Rohit’s absence: Ponting

Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting believes Jasprit Bumrah will thrive as a leader should the ace speedster be required to lead the Indian side in Perth in Rohit Sharma’s absence. 

As it stands, Rohit's availability for the first Test is uncertain. The team India skipper and his wife are expecting the birth of their second child, which might cause the 37-year-old to go on paternity leave. Should Rohit be unavailable, India will be led by Bumrah, who is the designated vice-captain.

Bumrah has led India only once in the past - in the one-off Test against England at Edgbaston two years ago - but Ponting believes that the 30-year-old will embrace captaincy just like his counterpart Pat Cummins.

“Guys like that tend to thrive on the extra pressure and the responsibility,” Ponting said on the ICC review.

“He's always been the leader of the attack for a long time anyway. Whether that's red ball, T20 or ODIs, he's the main man.”

The biggest challenge as a fast-bowling captain, Ponting believes, is figuring out one’s own workload. But the 49-year-old believes Bumrah is ‘experienced enough’ to strike the right balance and not under-bowl or over-bowl himself.

“I think that was always the question on Pat Cummins when he became the Australian Test captain as well. How much is he going to bowl himself? Is he going to bowl himself too much? Is he not going to bowl himself enough?

“But someone as experienced as Jasprit will understand the times when he needs to be bowling, when he needs to have a spell.”

Ponting also asserted that it will be important for Bumrah to utilise the leadership experience that exists within the Indian side. He cited the example of his own captaincy days, where he went to the likes of Adam Gilchrist and Justin Langer for advice. 

“In that Indian team, there's a lot of experience around him,” said Ponting.

“And it's really important, I think, that you use the experience around you even when you are the captain, and just ask the appropriate questions at the right time because no matter how much cricket we've played, we're not always going to be right.

“I liked to ask the questions of Gilchrist, Hayden, and Langer,” he said. 

“Asked them where they thought the game was, and what we needed to do. At the end of the day, as a captain, you're the one that's making that final decision, but whatever advice you can get along the way can only be good.”

If you’ve not downloaded the Cricket.com app yet, you’re missing out on our content — big time. Download the App here