'Bumrah is not the right option for captain.'
'All the pressure to deliver is on his shoulders. So taking on the mantle of captain will be added pressure.'
Mohammed Kaif reckons that Virat Kohli can regain his lost touch but only if he goes back to playing domestic cricket.
Kohli scored just 190 runs in the series against Australia, at an average of 23, with the lone bright being the unbeaten century in the first Test in Perth.
'No doubt that he can make a comeback. If he makes up his mind to work hard, practice for hours, play domestic cricket, has match practice of turning and swinging tracks, I'm sure he can make a comeback,' Kaif, a retired cricketer, said on his YouTube channel Cricket With Kaif.
Speaking about international players refusing to play domestic cricket, Kaif averred: 'It's the BCCI's job to ensure that international players go back to domestic cricket. Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were dropped from the BCCI's contract for not playing domestic cricket.
'Harsh calls have to be taken where players have to be made to play domestic cricket. If a player is available to play he should not be allowed to sit at home.'
'Why are we good at white-ball cricket? Because we play a lot of IPL. The best players come out here to play in the IPL. If you get exposed to playing stronger opposition, your game also improves,' Kaif added.
'Why did we reach the ICC ODI World Cup final or why did we win the T20 World Cup, because BCCI cares about white-ball cricket. The focus is fully on white-ball cricket,' Kaif said, urging the BCCI to focus on Test cricket.
'At home none of the batters have won Man of the Series awards, be it Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill or even K L Rahul.
'India have won home Tests because of spin twins (Ravichandran) Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja and now we have Axar Patel. Foreign players find it hard to play and it's these spinners who have won us matches. It's because of these wins that the batters' failures in India have gone under the radar,' Kaif said without mincing words.
'It's a good thing we lost the series in Australia because if Jasprit Bumrah would have been fit, he would have won us the match and all would have been forgotten. Now that we have lost the series, Kohli's failure with the bat and India's failure has come under the lens and now there will be serious efforts to mend the situation,' the plain speaking Kaif said.
Kaif also made a strong case for Rohit Sharma being dropped from Test cricket.
'Rohit should not play Test cricket anymore. Because when India needed him most he could not deliver.
'I was of the opinion that Rohit should have played the 5th Test in Sydney, He could have given India a good start alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal and helped India claim the series 2-2. He lost the opportunity to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
'India felt Rohit's absence when Bumrah got injured. If Captain Rohit would have been on the field in the 2nd innings, he knows all the players. At the crucial time when a leader was needed he was not there. Who was supporting young bowlers like Prasidh Krishna when he was bowling poorly? Rohit opting out of the Test was a bad decision.'
He also believes that Bumrah should not captain again.
'He is not the right option for captain after Rohit. He plays all the formats, he is the only bowler who gives it all. All the pressure to deliver is on his shoulders. So taking on the mantle of captain will be added pressure. His workload has to be managed. So I don't think he should be captain.
'For the England tour we should have a batter as captain. I think Rishabh Pant or K L Rahul should get captaincy because both of them are experienced now. They are IPL captains, they are mature.'
Talking about Gautam Gambhir's coaching, Kaif said: 'A good coach is one who is tactically No 1. He (Gambhir) has not shown tactical acumen. If you would have watched his post-match press conference... what are the errors that India made in the series? Sam Konstas and Bumrah's exchange doesn't matter anymore, you are deviating from the matter.
'The point is you made your squad, you didn't play Jadeja, why? You dropped Ashwin in the first Test. You played Dhruv Jurel in the first Test and then dropped him.
'Sarfaraz Khan scores 150 against New Zealand on a swinging track in Bengaluru, you take him to Australia but don't play him, give me a reason.
'Then you play Harshit Rana. What is so unique about him that you give him to play the first Test. Bowlers who were ideal for given conditions were not picked.'
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