Sanjay Manjrekar has weighed in on the debate around Jasprit Bumrah’s workload management and said that the star pacer should make adjustments for Indian cricket and not the other way around. Bumrah played just three out of the five matches against England during the recent Test series tour. The team management revealed before the series got underway that the 31-year-old would only feature in three matches.
Having played three out of the four games, many expected Bumrah to be a part of the decider at the Oval, but he was rested and then released from the squad. While India were able to level the series 2-2, Bumrah’s workload management was something that fans and pundits couldn’t agree on, with the likes of Mohammed Azharuddin and others being critical of the pacer. The latest to weigh in was Manjrekar, who said it was poetic justice that India won both the matches that Bumrah wasn’t a part of and the selectors need to make hard choices with big-name players.
Manjrekar said that no player is indispensable and that should be the method used to handle the star pacer.
“The game will always show us the mirror, however much we try and gloss over things. It was poetic justice that the two Tests India won were two matches Bumrah did not play.”
“This should embolden the Indian selectors to make some hard choices when it comes to big-name players. This series has been a great lesson to them and to us too, the two Tests victories India achieved did not feature Virat (Kohli), (Cheteshwar) Pujara, Rohit (Sharma), (Mohammed) Shami and Bumrah too! It reminded us of the eternal truth of sport and life, no one, however great, is indispensable. And this is how India must handle Bumrah,” wrote Manjrekar in column.
