Jasprit Bumrah says appointment as captain 'big achievement, honour'

Birmingham [UK], June 30 : Pacer Jasprit Bumrah, India's captain for the fifth and final Test against England at Edgbaston termed his appointment as skipper as a "big achievement" and "big honour".
The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named Jasprit Bumrah as captain for the upcoming Test and Rishabh Pant as his deputy as Rohit Sharma has tested positive for COVID-19. The fifth and final Test against India will take place from July 1 onwards in Edgbaston.
"It is a big achievement, a big honour. Playing Test cricket was my dream and getting an opportunity like this is a huge achievement for me. I am very happy on being given this opportunity," said Bumrah during a press conference.
The star pacer said that nothing changes for him as skipper.
"You have to do your job to the best of your ability. This is what I am looking forward to doing. We have a very good team. We have a lot of experienced players. I have a lot of players who were there to help me out. I am looking forward to helping the team to the best of my abilities, understand where the game is heading and contribute to the best of my abilities," he added.
Bumrah said that the side is focused more on its preparations rather than thinking about the ball and how it is going to behave. "The wicket in Leicester was different and this is a different wicket," he added.
Questioned on England's fine form in their recent Test and ODI showing against New Zealand and Netherlands respectively, the pacer said that the side wants to focus on its own job. "We do not want to think too much about the opposition. We know our strengths. If we do our job well, we believe we can win in any condition or place. We want to give more attention to ourselves. We have our plans and we will focus on what we need to do. Joe Root is in an amazing form," he added.
Bumrah said that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are leaders and play a massive role. "I take advice from everyone. I try to learn from every senior player but do what my instincts say," he added.
The rescheduled match is a part of last year's five-match Test series that had to be delayed after the fourth Test due to a COVID-19 outbreak in the Indian camp. India lead the series 2-1.
India are on the brink of securing their first Test series victory in England since 2007. However, they face an England side riding high on momentum under the new leadership of coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes.
They swept New Zealand - the reigning ICC World Test Championship winners - 3-0 at home. India will have played only one warm-up match against Leicestershire heading into the Test.
England have adopted a high-risk, high-reward strategy under McCullum and Stokes, a move that helped them secure convincing victories against New Zealand.
India's Test squad: Jasprit Bumrah (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant (vice-captain) (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohd Shami, Mohd Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Mayank Agarwal.
England has announced the playing XI for the fifth Test.
England Men's Team v India: Alex Lees, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (c), Sam Billings (w), Matthew Potts, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach, and James Anderson.