Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Time for pace merchants' showdown as captains

From Bob Willis to Imran Khan and now Pat Cummins, Test cricket has had its share of fast bowling captains. However, it will be a rare occasion to have two of the game’s leading speed merchants going out for the toss in Perth on Friday, in Cummins and Jasprit Bumrah.

Bumrah, the smiling assassin and India’s Test vice-captain for some time, will be stepping in for Rohit Sharma in a stopgap arrangement as the latter did not accompany the squad initially to be with his wife for the birth of their second child. The confirmation about his leadership role, albeit for one Test now, has been greeted with cheers all round, with fast-bowling coach Morne Morkel calling him a "natural leader" at a media interaction on Wednesday.

There is, of course, no comparison between the two captains in terms of experience, with Cummins being the Test captain since 2021 with an Ashes victory and a World Test Championship (WTC) under his belt, not to speak of the ODI World Cup last year. Bumrah, on the other hand, had a rather forgettable outing in a single Test as captain against England at Edgbaston in 2022, when Sharma failed to recover in time from Covid. India lost that Test by seven wickets.

Earlier this year, Bumrah was thrust into the role (as Sharma could not take the field due to a stiff back) midway against England at the Dharamsala Test, where India recorded an innings win. He did, however, lead India to a T20I series win against Ireland on return from a long injury lay-off last year, but doesn’t have much notable experience of captaincy at the domestic level or even with his IPL franchise.

However, this has not deterred him from expressing his ambition of captaining the country some day. In an interview with the Indian Express in August, the Indian pace warhead lent his weight to bowlers in leadership roles: ‘’We have seen Pat Cummins doing very well. When I was a child, I’d see Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis as captains. Kapil Dev has won us a World Cup. Imran Khan has won Pakistan a World Cup. So bowlers are the smart ones.’’

Now 30 and at the peak of his prowess, Bumrah’s timing to press his claim was just right, with the 37-year-old Sharma in the twilight of his career. Even a year-and-a-half ago, K.L. Rahul was being looked upon as the next captain incumbent in the longer format, but times have changed and how. Admittedly, what the speedster from Ahmedabad may not have bargained for was the backdrop against which he is taking over the role, with memories of the recent 3-0 whitewash by New Zealand still looming large.

However, Bumrah can certainly take heart from his past performances Down Under, where the wickets suit his bowling to the T — 32 wickets from seven Tests with a six-wicket haul at the MCG and an economy rate of 2.47. While common wisdom says a bowler-captain often is faced with the dilemma of either over-bowling or under-bowling himself, the stand-in skipper should do well to remember that he would be better off as the go-to man for the breakthroughs than play the stock bowler’s role.

Speaking on how he would approach the captaincy, former Australian opener Matthew Hayden said: ‘’Bumrah will lead with the ball just like (Pat) Cummins. He took five wickets in Perth in a losing cause. He is going to lead from the front, the better he bowls, the better his team gets into a position of dominance and he can expose many players because of his immense talent.’’

Early criticism

Encouraging words these, but fact remains that even his counterpart Cummins did not have a very smooth transition to Test captaincy following Tim Paine. Pitchforked into a leadership role after a startling disclosure about Paine’s misdemeanour, Cummins failed to seal an Ashes win in England despite a 2-0 lead, and there was some talk of Steve Smith being brought back as captain.

However, the 2023-24 season saw him not put a foot wrong, winning the WTC crown, Ashes, 50-over World Cup and also the ICC Player of the Year for '23. The charming captain now looks to stop the Indians from making it a hat-trick of triumphs in his backyard, as Bumrah stands in the way.