He might be regretting, or he might be hurt: Kris Srikkanth on Bumrah’s cryptic post

PTI, Dec 1, 2023, 8:56 AM IST

Chennai: Former India cricketer Kris Srikkanth feels that Jasprit Bumrah could be hurt by all-rounder Hardik Pandya’s return to Mumbai Indians as the premier pacer may have harboured captaincy aspirations.

Pandya has returned to the MI fold a couple of years after leading Gujarat Titans, having also led the latter to title success in IPL 2022.

Pandya had begun his IPL career with MI in 2015, winning four titles before joining GT in 2022.

After he was traded by MI last week, Bumrah posted a cryptic Insta story, which read, ‘Silence is sometimes the best answer.’

“He’s is the best bowler in the world currently, be it Tests or white-ball cricket, not to forget his World Cup performance. He was even the stand-in captain against England in the fifth Test last year,” Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.

“He might be regretting. It could be his ego, or he might be hurt by the fact that he stayed back at MI and gave his all, but the team is bringing back someone who had left and celebrating him. He feels it’s not fair.”

He also spoke about a similar situation with Ravindra Jadeja and Chennai Super Kings a couple of seasons back and sensed that MI would be doing the same with Bumrah and Pandya.

“It was the same case with Ravindra Jadeja at CSK. However, the team management and the captain (MS Dhoni) stepped in to sort out the situation.

“Similarly, I feel that the MI team management will have a sit-down with Bumrah, Pandya and Rohit (Sharma) to sort things out. Championships can only be won as a team,” Srikkanth added.

While he backed Bumrah as a possible candidate to lead the five-time champions, he affirmed that the situation was not a miscommunication and that something had happened internally.

“Even I would be hurt if something like that happened to me. Following Hardik Pandya’s return, Bumrah can think, ‘I am from Gujarat, I could have captained that team’.

“I’m not sure if it’s miscommunication. I have interacted with Bumrah, a very down-to-earth person, and a fantastic human being. If he is getting aggravated, obviously, something must have happened.

“It’s quite possible that he was looking to lead MI, especially with the T20 World Cup coming up (next year),” Srikkanth concluded.