"Reddy is talented and believes in his game", says skipper Jasprit Bumrah

Jasprit Bumrah, Gautam Gambhir (Pic: File Pic)

Jasprit Bumrah was not ready to reveal his playing XI for the opening Test match against Australia. But he has given enough indications that the management believes in Nitish Kumar Reddy's all-round abilities.

As a captain of the Indian team, Jasprit Bumrah is impressed with the youngsters for not being confused about their roles and not being overwhelmed as well by the sense of occasion of playing their first Test series Down Under.

Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Devdutt Padikkal, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Prasidh Krishna and Dhruv Jurel are on their maiden Test tour to Australia.

"Reddy is quite talented and we are positive about him. You have seen in IPL also, he believes in his game", Jasprit Bumrah said at the pre-match media conference on Thursday.

Bumrah admired the fact that this generation of players is fearless and clear-headed in their approach.

"The best thing about youngsters in our team is that when you talk to them, no one looks confused, overawed", he said.

"When you have belief in your abilities, you get a lot of confidence as a leader that a youngster wants to perform the tough job."

Also Read: SA20 Season 3: With 50 days to go, AB de Villiers excited for upcoming mega action

"He wants responsibility and wants to be thrown at the deep end of the pool as they want to prove themselves. Nothing could be more heartening for a captain."

Virat Kohli's recent run in Test cricket could be a matter of debate, but Jasprit Bumrah has no doubt that the Indian stalwart looks in fine touch which could turn out to be ominous for the opposition. Further, the pacer said that he would not like to jink it.

"I don't have to say anything about Kohli the batter. I have made my (Test) debut under him. I don't need to give him any kind of special inputs and he is the utmost professional you have in our team and he is one of the leaders", Bumrah was loud and clear.

Jasprit Bumrah is on his third tour to Australia and he keeps telling the youngsters that once a player performs here, his career graph goes on an upward scale.

For him, it doesn't matter if he is 100-Test old or 50-Test, it is the self-belief that makes all the difference.

"If you believe you are good enough, then you can make an impact. It doesn't matter if you have played 100 Tests or 50 Tests. What matters is what is going on inside you. If I believe I can do it, it can make a difference. On a given day, anyone can make a difference and doesn't matter who you are, because you gain experience by playing, nobody is born with experience and if that self-belief is there that's what matters."

Bumrah believes that there are lessons to be learnt from the 0-3 defeat against New Zealand but the team has moved on as they embark on a fresh journey fraught with challenges.

In the end, whether one wins or loses, the fresh start is still from zero.

"Obviously, we won the World Cup doesn't mean that we become complacent and obviously we were disappointed and we had a tough series last time but we are not carrying any baggage. We need to absorb the learnings (from NZ series) and move on. The conditions in India were different and conditions here are different and we have had very different results over here," he said.

One pro-tip Bumrah has for the youngsters is learning to cope up with the bad days in the same manner as they handle the good days.

"Our players know how to handle good and bad days. Like good days, you need to learn to cope up with bad days too if you need to play international cricket", he added.

(With PTI Inputs)