Wish Bumrah commits for India: Former cricketer criticizes pick-and-choose approach

Jasprit Bumrah’s decision to miss India’s upcoming tour of the UK has drawn harsh criticism from former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar, who openly questioned the Prime Minister fast bowler’s commitment to the national team.

The controversy erupted after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced a two-match T20I series against Ireland on Saturday, June 6, followed by a five-match T20I series against England. Bumrah’s absence from the roster caught many by surprise and prompted an immediate defense of the selection committee over his workload management.

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In a press conference, BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar explained that managing Bumrah’s schedule is necessary to get him ready for the marquee tournaments, namely the upcoming One-Day World Cup and the grueling World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.

“We know how important he is,” Agarkar told reporters. “The main aim is to try and keep him fit for the Test and ODI formats. If we can get Jasprit to play most of those games and still keep him fit and healthy, that’s always the aim.”

Agarkar highlighted that with the sheer volume of T20 cricket being played around the world, the ace speedster can be brought back to the shortest format whenever required. He also confirmed that while Bumrah is missing out on the UK tour, he has been included in it team for the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, which are scheduled to begin on September 19.

MANJREKAR confused the PICK AND CHOOSE approach

However, Manjrekar found this reasoning hard to swallow, especially considering Bumrah’s recent active involvement in domestic franchise cricket. The cricket commentator-turned-commentator expressed his confusion over the trajectory of the pacer’s international career, admitting that he initially envisioned Bumrah leading the national T20 side.

“I’m just confused about how his career is going in terms of his availability,” Manjrekar said on Sony Sports Network. “I thought Jasprit Bumrah was the front-runner to become India’s T20 captain because I felt the T20 workload was something he could handle. But he doesn’t seem particularly keen to play every match that India plays.”

Manjrekar opposed the philosophy of a player resting during bilateral national assignments to preserve himself for specific tournaments.

“Here’s a player who actually rests for certain matches in India to keep himself fit for specific tasks. It’s a very different approach and frankly, it’s something I don’t quite understand. I wish he’d commit more to India,” Manjrekar added.

“I can understand managing the workload when it comes to Test cricket and even 50-over cricket can be extremely demanding. But given that he has played the whole of the IPL, I thought he could handle a couple of T20 matches in Ireland and England.”

CAPTAINCY VACUUM

Apart from the bowling department, Manjrekar noted that Bumrah’s frequent absence has significantly changed the Indian management’s plans. Seemingly stepping down from the full-time captaincy role due to availability issues, other young stars are getting the nod much sooner than expected.

With Bumrah out of the picture for the leadership role in the shortest format, the captaincy duties for the UK tour shifted and Shreyas Iyer took over as the new T20I captain for the Men in Blue.

– The end

Issued by:

Amar Panicker

Published on:

07 Jun 2026 18:16 IST