'Bumrah is like a Kohinoor diamond; being captain will increase risk of injury': Karthik

Dinesh Karthik. Pic/AFP

Former India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik said fast-bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is like a Kohinoor diamond for the national team, adding that being entrusted with the responsibility of captaincy will increase the risk of him being injured. Bumrah previously led India as a stand-in captain during the rescheduled fifth Test against England at Edgbaston in 2022, when regular skipper Rohit Sharma was out due to COVID-19 infection.

He also guided India to a 2-0 series victory in a three-match T20I series against Ireland last year, where he made a comeback post a layoff of 11 months due to a serious back injury.

"Bumrah is calm, cool, and has good maturity. But him being a fast bowler, how we can play him in all three formats? That is the biggest question selectors would have had. 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 have to protect him, take care of him, and 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. You burden him with captaincy and if he plays a lot of series and injures himself, it becomes a massive problem," said Karthik in a video for Cricbuzz.

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Bumrah has been on extensive rest by the Indian team after being named Player of the Tournament in the Men's T20 World Cup triumph, where he picked 15 scalps. He has also been rested from the first round of the upcoming Duleep Trophy, to be held in Bengaluru and Anantapur in September.

With India seeing at playing ten Test matches, including the all-important Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia later this year, Karthik thinks the Duleep Trophy is crucial to finding supporting fast bowlers.

"In the Duleep Trophy, two skill sets will be very, very important: fast bowlers and middle-order batters. Let's get to fast-bowlers: Akash Deep, Mukesh Kumar and then, who would be the fourth and fifth medium-pacer? Because when you play a five-match Test series, you need a big battery of fast bowlers in Australia, who are ready to play at any point in time."

"Shami, Siraj and Bumrah are locked in, but who will be the other three fast bowlers? Akash Deep, I can think of. People are talking of Mayank Yadav, but I am not sure if his body will last five days of playing cricket and he seems to be a bit injury-prone, which is similar to Khaleel Ahmed."

He also believes India are trying to unearth the next generation of off-spinners and fast-bowling all-rounders via the Duleep Trophy. "India are definitely looking for a next-gen off-spinner, as in last India ‘A' series against England Lions, they tried three off-spinners in three matches: Pulkit Narang, Washington Sundar and Saransh Jain."

"They are trying out and Washington Sundar is the front-runner behind Ravichandran Ashwin right now. He's done well in whatever limited opportunities he's got and I feel he will get his due first before going to anybody else."

"Coming to fast-bowling all-rounders, we all know how hard it is to get these skills. It's very difficult to find, not many in India. Nitish Kumar Reddy is solid and needs to grow as a cricketer. People will be looking at him, and Shivam Dube has been in the white-ball format, but I will be surprised if he will be kept for Test cricket."

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