Jasprit Bumrah
Credit: PTI Photo
Hyderabad: Legendary Mahendra Singh Dhoni picked Jasprit Bumrah as his favourite bowler, but the multiple World Cup-winning former Indian skipper refrained from selecting between Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma as batsman of his choice.
Bumrah played a vital role in India’s recent T20 World Cup triumph in the Americas, picking up 15 wickets from eight matches at an economy rate of 4.17, best among the regular bowlers in the ICC showpiece.
The effort earned Bumrah the player of the tournament award.
“It’s easy to pick my favourite bowler because Bumrah is there. It’s difficult to pick a batsman because we have many good batsmen. But that doesn’t mean bowlers aren’t good,” said Dhoni during a promotional event here.
Bumrah has been given a rest post the World Cup, and he is not playing the ongoing away white ball series against Sri Lanka.
Dhoni said it is tough to pick one batsman as his favourite because several batters churn out excellent knocks.
“It’s difficult to pick one among batters as whomever I see batting, he looks the best. But when I see someone else he also looks great.
“But as long as Team India is winning, I don’t want to pick a batter (as my favourite). I hope they will keep scoring runs for the team,” Dhoni said.
The 43-year-old Dhoni did not reveal his IPL future when a fan posed a question about his plans for the 2025 edition.
“There is a lot of time for it. We have to see what decision they take on player retention etc. Right now, the ball is not in our court.
"So, once the rules and regulations get formarlised, I will take a call, but needs to be in the best interest of the team,” he added.
At present, the IPL teams are a divided house over a host of issues ranging from the mega auction rules to the ‘Impact Player’ rule.
The BCCI secretary Jay Shah said he had a “constructive dialogue” with the IPL team owners on a variety of subjects, which would then be taken before the IPL Governing Council led by Arun Dhumal for further deliberation.