'He Needs to Be Protected': Dinesh Karthik Dismisses Idea of Elevating Jasprit Bumrah to Captaincy

Jasprit Bumrah became a national treasure after he helped India stay undefeated at the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024. Bumrah spearheaded the pace attack, which aided the team big time. Recently, fans have been calling for Bumrah to be the captain. Dinesh Karthik has offered his thoughts on the notion.

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Dinesh Karthik Not on Board to Make Jasprit Bumrah as Captain

During an appearance with Cricbuzz, Dinesh Karthik expressed his perspective on the notion of making Jasprit Bumrah the T20I captain. The veteran wicketkeeper has rejected the idea. He believes the pace bowler is like a 'Kohinoor diamond' and needs to be in his best form for the critical match-ups instead of elevating him to the captaincy role.

"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," Dinesh Karthik said.

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Team India's T20I captaincy race was something which heated up when Rohit Sharma stepped down from the limited-over format. While many believed Hardik Pandya was the de facto choice, the selectors went with all-rounder Suryakumar Yadav. It was a surprising move since Hardik had been the vice-captain during India's winning campaign at the T20 World Cup and pulled off a miraculous death-over spell to help the Men in Blue lift the World Cup title.

Speaking of Jasprit Bumrah, the star-pacer is receiving the Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma treatment, as he has been offered an exception from competing in the Duleep Trophy. Bumrah could be back in action during the critical Border-Gavaskar series when India will face at a hostile environment down under.