‘Nobody is indispensable’: Sunil Gavaskar's blunt message to Ajit Agarkar on Jasprit Bumrah's selection for Asia Cup

Jasprit Bumrah likely to get rested for Asia Cup. (Photo: PTI)

The 'pick and choose' option granted to India's top pacer, Jasprit Bumrah, has generated a lot of discussion among cricketers in the nation. The team management chose to rest Bumrah for the second and fifth games of the series, therefore he only played three games during the tour of England.

With the Asia Cup 2025 squad announcement approaching, doubts linger over Jasprit Bumrah’s inclusion as he is expected to play the upcoming Test series against West Indies. Amid this uncertainty, India great Sunil Gavaskar has delivered a blunt message on Bumrah.

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"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 expressed his direct thoughts on Bumrah's workload management, advising head coach Gautam Gambhir and the selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar to prioritize red-ball cricket above certain pointless white-ball games.

"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."