India's captain for the opening Test match against Australia will be Jasprit Bumrah. Given the difficult conditions in Perth and the large number of inexperienced players in India's squad, the star bowler will have a difficult assignment ahead of him. With Shubman Gill suffering from an injury and Rohit Sharma on paternity leave, India will only have three specialist batters who have already played Test cricket in Australia: Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, and KL Rahul.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, and perhaps Sarfaraz Khan, who is playing in Australia for the first time, will be in India's batting lineup. They will not have an easy time against the formidable Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Josh Hazlewood trio.
"We are very well prepared because we came here early. We got some time to spend at WACA. A lot of youngsters are coming here for the first time. But when we came here for the first time, we got less time than this, and we ended up winning the series. We always believe and have confidence in our side. Whenever we play, whatever the situation might be, So yes, in terms of preparations, we are in a very good place. And then now it’s all about being mentally switched on, and we are looking to do that, and hopefully things will fall into place," Bumrah told reporters in pre-match press conference.
Bumrah's hilarious reply to reporter
However, there came a point during the press conference when Bumrah's response to a reporter left everyone in splits. When a member of the media referred to Bumrah as a medium pacer, the Indian captain quickly corrected him.
"How does it feel to captain India as a medium pace all-rounder," the reporter asked. "Yaar, I can bowl 150kmph, at least you say, fast bowler captain," Bumrah responded.
It is quite uncommon for fast bowlers to captain both sides in the first test. Bumrah stated that bowlers may be more tactically proficient and backed the concept of them leading teams.
"I have always advocated for pacers being captains. They are tactically better. Pat has done a phenomenal job. There are a lot of models in the past as well," he said.
