Sanjay Manjrekar, the former India batter, urged Jasprit Bumrah to ‘commit’ himself more to Indian cricket after the pacer was named in the 15-member squad for the Asian Games. The ace speedster will travel with the Shreyas Iyer-led side for the Games in Japan in September; however, the selectors have rested him for the T20I series against Ireland and England, set to be played in June and July. The 32-year-old played all 14 Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 matches for the Mumbai Indians, and hence, deservedly got a break, keeping his workload in mind.
However, Manjrekar believes that Bumrah could have handled the workload in T20 cricket, saying he doesn’t understand how the pacer’s career has been progressing of late. It isn’t the first time Manjrekar has spoken up about Bumrah; earlier, he had criticised the premier pacer for playing just three Tests against England in the five-match series.
Speaking of Bumrah, he went through a blip in form in the 19th edition of the IPL, picking up just four wickets. He also leaked runs, and experts were left shocked by the speedster having trouble controlling the runs and taking wickets. Manjrekar also said that had Bumrah been available, he would have been a better candidate than Shreyas Iyer to lead the T20I team.
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“Asian Games, those performances and those results don’t stay with you for too long. Cricket is still a sport of bilaterals and our own World Cups. The Olympics, when it comes as well, I don’t think it will have the same sanctity that you have. It would be nice to win the Asia Games, but Bumrah is somebody; I’m just confused about how his career is going in terms of his availability. I did an Insta post yesterday. I thought Bumrah was the frontrunner to become India’s T20 captain because I thought he could handle the T20 workload,” Manjrekar said on the Sony Sports Network.
“But it seems like he’s not very keen to play every game that India plays. So here is a guy who actually rests for India games and keeps himself fit for certain India games. So it’s a very different approach, something that I don’t understand. I just wish that he would commit himself more to India. I can understand the workload he feels for Test cricket; 50 overs of cricket is extremely demanding. But considering that he played the entire IPL, I thought he would be able to take the workload of a few T20 matches in Ireland and England,” he added.
‘Go-to captain’
Manjrekar, who calls a spade a spade, said that because of Bumrah’s unavailability, the Indian captaincy has gone prematurely to players like Shubman Gill and Iyer. It is worth noting that Bumrah declined the Test captaincy last year due to workload management, and the selectors went with Gill.
“I wish he were available. And he was my go-to captain. He was certainly deserving of ability and leadership qualities as well. Bumrah has not been too keen to take captaincy. It’s gone prematurely to other Indian players like Shubman Gill in England and now Shreyas Iyer as well,” he added.
Bumrah, who has been rested for the Ireland and England series, is also not there in the team for the Afghanistan ODIs, and it remains to be seen whether he gets picked for the three ODIs against England.
