There has been a lot of discussion lately over star fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah becoming the Indian cricket team skipper in the near future. In a recent interaction, Bumrah said that it is time for fast bowlers to be considered for captaincy and even called himself his “favourite captain”. However, former India wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik is not in favour of Bumrah becoming the captain and he said that the fast bowler needs to be protected. During an interaction on Cricbuzz, Karthik called Bumrah ‘like a Kohinoor diamond’ and said that he should be made to play only in important matches for the side.

“For a fast bowler like Bumrah, his fitness needs to be monitored and he needs to be protected as a player and only made to play in important matches, I keep saying this about Bumrah, he is like a Kohinoor diamond, we got to protect him, take care of him, make sure that he lasts as long as possible because whenever Bumrah plays in any format he makes an impact and that’s what we want.”

“Everything right … He is calm cool, good maturity but he is a fast bowler so how can we play him for all three formats that is the biggest question the selectors would have had,” he added.

Earlier, former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting showered praise on India pacer Jasprit Bumrah and said that he is probably been the “best multi-format bowler”.

In the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2024, Bumrah earned the ‘Player of the Tournament’ award thanks to his crucial spells throughout the tournament, taking 15 wickets in eight matches at an average of 11.86 and an economy rate of 4.17, with the best bowling figures of 3/7.

Speaking at ICC Review, Ponting said Bumrah is currently the best pacer in the world. The former cricketer added that earlier there was some fear with Bumrah due to his injury but the Indian pacer came back in a better way.

“I’ve said it for a long time, he’s probably been the best multi-format bowler there’s been in world cricket for the last five or six years. There might have been some fears a couple of years ago when the injuries come in and ‘would he come back the same?’, but I think he’s actually come back better,” Ponting was quoted by ICC as saying.

(With ANI inputs)