India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah said the freedom he enjoys playing under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy in the Mumbai Indians set-up has been a huge confidence-booster for him in his career.
Bumrah is an integral part of Mumbai Indians, which has won a record four Indian Premier League titles under Rohit’s leadership.
“He (Rohit) has always given me the freedom, he has always told me to express myself, be whatever I want, be it any situation, take ownership of my own bowling, so that gives me a lot of confidence that I’m responsible for whatever I’m doing,” Bumrah said.
“In doing so, a captain gives a bowler so much of confidence. He trusts you so much and he trusts the decisions that you will take and that’s a very positive sign.”
Not just Bumrah, Rohit’s captaincy has also come in for praise from fellow teammates and the Mumbai Indians’ coaching staff.
“He is always open to take suggestions on the ground. In crunch situations he is very calm, cool and composed,” batsman Suryakumar Yadav said in a video posted on the team’s Twitter handle.
While head coach Mahela Jayawardene termed Rohit a “very instinctive leader”, former India speedster Zaheer Khan, who is part of the team’s support staff, described the right-handed batsman as “a thinking cricketer”.
“You have this very relaxed, cool looking guy. His mannerism when he bats, he’s got that elegance, which you can call lazy elegance. But he is very intense and hard-core when it comes to thinking about the game,” Zaheer said.