Jasprit Bumrah has received immense flak for talks around his workload management. Bumrah as we all know has been prone to injuries and keeping that in mind the BCCI are taking extra precaution in order to prevent any further damage. However, the cricket body has faced significant backlash over their stance on Bumrah and his fitness and joining the bandwagon is 1983 World Cup-winner Sandeep Patil.
Patil in an interaction with Mid-Day was highly critical of Bumrah's workload management, which has come to spotlight after India's tour of England. Before the team left for England, it was declared Bumrah will only play three Tests out of the total five. It was once again echoed during the course of the series.
Weighing-in on the subject, Patil noted: "I wonder how the BCCI is agreeing to all this. Is the physio more important than the captain, than the head coach? What about selectors? Are we to expect that the physio will be sitting in selection committee meetings now. Will he decide?"
Patil's, former teammate and India legend Sunil Gavaskar, had recently made a remark about workload by making a reference to the soldiers. Patil too echoed similar view and said: "When you are picked for your country, you die for your country. You are a warrior. I have seen Sunil Gavaskar bat on all five days of a match, I’ve seen Kapil Dev bowl on most days of a Test match, and even bowl to us in the nets. They never asked for breaks, never complained, and their careers extended to 16-plus years. I didn’t miss the next Test after my head injury in Australia in 1981."
Patil then went on to highlight how facilities have improved over the years, comparing it to his playing days. "Workload management is nonsense. You are either fit or unfit, and that’s how we [his selection committee] picked teams. We did not entertain this workload business. Modern-day players have all the facilities. We did not have such rehab programmes in our playing days. At times, we carried on playing despite injuries. Let’s just say we were happy playing for the country… no naatak," he said.
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