"Nobody Is...": Sunil Gavaskar's Blunt 'Jasprit Bumrah Selection' Message To Ajit Agarkar

The 'pick and choose' option given to India's premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah has been a big subject of debate in the country's cricketing spectrum. Bumrah only played three matches on the tour of England, with the team management deciding to rest him for the second and the 5th match of the series. With the Asia Cup 2025 selection know on the horizon, there are some doubts over Bumrah's selection too, considering he is expected to feature in the following Tests against West Indies. Amid this dilemma, India great Sunil Gavaskar has sent a blunt message to Bumrah.

"Nobody is indispensable. That's why it is of prime importance for the selectors to now decide when Jasprit Bumrah should be playing. There's already been a lot of debate about his appearances in the recently concluded series in England. To be fair, he had informed the selection committee that he could play only three Tests out of the five. The debate that has generated some heat is whether he should have played the last must-win Test match, especially since it was the grassiest pitch at the Oval in a long time. The next Test match was in early October, and so there were two clear months for him to rest and recover in time for that. The Indian team management stated that he wasn't picked considering his future. This is where the lines between what is good for the individual and what is good for Indian cricket got a little blurred," Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-day.

"Surely at that stage if he was fit, then for Indian cricket's sake, he had to play. Whether then it was his call or the management's call not to play is not known, but in the end after India's win it showed once again if ever there was need to know that nobody is indispensable in the game. The game just moves on."

Gavaskar also shared his blunt opinion on the subject of Bumrah's workload management, telling the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee and head coach Gautam Gambhir to make red-ball cricket a priority for Bumrah over some meaningless white-ball matches.

"That's why now comes the tricky decision for the selectors. What is more important? Qualifying for the World Test Championship or playing some bilateral white ball games which have no bearing at all. If India have to qualify for the WTC, then Jasprit Bumrah, being the premier fast bowler in the game, has to play in the four Tests that India have lined up between early October and late November. There's a gap of a month between these Tests against West Indies and South Africa which means that he should be rested for the white ball series. That should be the logic but then Indian cricket has got its own logic as was seen in the recently concluded series," Gavaskar asserted.

"The selection committee has taken some bold calls in choosing the squads which has shown remarkable results, and they have to be lauded for that, but when it comes to the selection of the final XI that is entirely the management's call and that's how it should be."

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Jasprit Bumrah Sunil Gavaskar Gautam Gambhir Ajit Agarkar Asia Cup 2025 Cricket