Jasprit Bumrah slammed for prioritizing ‘personal preference’ against England, star India player says, ‘Stay out…’

India trails by 1-2 after a nail-biting 22-run loss at Lord’s. With just two matches left, the road to a series victory, won’t be easy as they’ll need to win both games to turn things around. What makes matters more challenging is the uncertainty over Jasprit Bumrah’s availability. The star pacer has already missed one match in the series due to workload management, having played only the first and third Tests. Before the series started, chief selector Ajit Agarkar had hinted that Bumrah wouldn’t feature in all five games, keeping his fitness and long-term workload in mind.

While talking by about Jasprit Bumrah’s work load management, Former India player Dilip Vengsarakar said that the players should stop prioritizing ‘personal prefernece’.

“I’m not in favour of bowlers picking and choosing Test matches. If you’re fit and available, you should play all the matches for your country. Bumrah is a world-class bowler, and he can win matches for India. But once you’re on tour, you need to play every match. There’s no question of selecting matches based on personal preference,” Vengsarkar told RevSportz.

The decision to give Bumrah rest during the England series was taken following his injury in Australia in 2024-25. The heavy workload during that tour kept him nearly out from competitive cricket for nearly three months. To avoid a repeat of the same, the team management has been more careful this time.

“What is important is playing for India and if you are unfit, then don’t play at all. He had a gap of almost 7-8 days after the first Test match, but still was not included for the second Test which was not acceptable. Maybe it was acceptable for Agarkar and Gambhir,” said Vengsarkar.

Talking about the Test series, India lost the leeds Test by 5 wickets, later secured a 336 run victory at Birmingham in second Test. The fourth Test is scheduled to commence from July 23.

 

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