It may be ‘normal’ for social media warriors to slam pace ace Jasprit Bumrah for not making himself available for a full Test series, comprising five contests against England. However, it’s comes across as a bit odd when legends who have played cricket at the highest-level resort to naming and shaming BOOM for deciding how much load he can shoulder.
Who would have thought former cricketers who have been chairmen of the BCCI Selection Committee will also rip Bumrah apart? To cut a long story short, a few voices have spoken against Bumrah in the wake of India drawing the five-Test series against England last week, His crime? Not making himself available for all five Tests.
The world of media now is no longer restricted to traditional and conventional platforms of print, radio and television channels. Indeed, the explosion of social media has seen almost all fans and former cricketers embracing various platforms. Some make sense and a few surely wish to be seen as sensational.
Those who view the fast bowler as hiding or faking an injury are overlooking the fact that he has come back after one more serious back injury sustained in Sydney this January. It is well known that Bumrah stepped back into the 2025 edition of the Indian Premier League with cobwebs of uncertainty clinging to him. He returned to Mumbai Indians with a certain degree of restraint, before he showed form of the past. It was sublime.
For those with myopic vision, Bumrah was sensational when he rocked the Aussies with 32 wickets in the BGT Series. Even in England, so many former cricketers raved about Bumrah for being unplayable. Sadly, even as Englishmen sang paeans about the Indian, we now have Sandip Patil questioning the commitment of Bumrah.
The comparisons made are weird. An opening batsman, now termed batter, is weighed as better than Bumrah. Of course, Sunny Gavaskar as batsman was fit as a fiddle. But is Patil comparing the workload of the legendary opener with Bumrah. The whole logic is flawed. Another comparison made by Sandip Patil is how Kapil Dev never took ‘breaks’.
As the epitome of fitness, Kapil Paaji was a class act. He was both a strike bowler and a stock bowler and dominated Test cricket. However, to say that Bumrah is shirking load is wrong. Consider these numbers: Bumrah, 31, has played 48 Tests, 89 ODIs and 70 T20 internationals. Add 145 IPL matches and you can get an idea of how much Bumrah has slogged.
Surely, it does not mean the end of the road for Bumrah when workload management comes into play. One hears he will play for India in the Asia Cup T20 next month in Dubai. That brings us to another critic. Dilip Vengsarkar said in an interview that Bumrah should have skipped the IPL.
Is it not clear that on return from an injury break where he spent three months and more on rehab and regaining fitness and strength, IPL was the platform for him to show again he was match fit? WasVengsarkar, referred to as Colonel, not aware of what was happening with Bumrah? Many had been thinking his career was over.
Frankly speaking, workload management is not alien to Indian cricket. There have been two former captains as well who took breaks, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Reasons for these two former India captains missing Tests was not physical fatigue alone. They cited personal reasons, including paternity leave. And that was granted by the bosses in the BCCI.
So, then, do not Patil and Vengsarkar know that Bumrah had said he would play only three Tests in England. Nobody knows if it was Bumrah who said ‘no’ to the fifth Test or the coaching staff bosses and fitness experts took a call.
Strength and conditioning guru Ramji Srinivasn told this writer: “There is no justification in ripping Bumrah apart. He is still an all-format player. How can anyone forget his contribution to Indian cricket so easily? Did he not bowl his heart out in Australia? People involved in workload management are fully aware how much Bumrah can be pushed in a long series.”
Photo: Courtesy Jasprit Bumrah Instagram page
