Jasprit Bumrah played only three Tests out of five ion recent England tour.
In his three Test appearances, Bumrah claimed 17 wickets, including two five-wicket hauls. But once the series ended, the speedster became the subject of increased conversation.
After bowling more than 185 overs, Mohammed Siraj finished with 23 wickets, the most of any player on either team. A number of commentators questioned Bumrah's performance and the reasons he was unable to participate in all five games.
According to Manoj Tiwary, there shouldn't be any picking and choosing; once a player is selected, they should be accessible for every game.
“See, when you know there are a couple of things that have happened in England, you think we missed a trick as far as our strategy is concerned. So first of all, in my opinion, if a player is not fit for a five-Test series, when you know beforehand, then obviously, you will not pick that individual,” Tiwary told Crictracker.
“Why will you not pick that individual? Because no one is bigger than the game of cricket. And it should be told to everyone, irrespective of whether he's Jasprit Bumrah, whether it is Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma, or anyone in this world. No one is bigger than the game of cricket,” he added.
Jasprit Bumrah suffered from back spasms after playing all five tests on the Australia tour earlier this year. He captained India in the fifth Test in Sydney but had to leave the field after bowling 10 overs due to a back injury. This led to him missing three months of game time, including the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
Therefore, the BCCI team management decided to manage Bumrah’s workload and had him play three tests in England, two of which India lost, and drew one at Lord’s.
“If the team management knows or the selector knows that he's not going to survive for five tests on the trot, he should not be picked. And the second reason is we would have understood if the backup was not there, the bench strength was not there; then obviously you want to take Jasprit Bumrah because you know there are no other bowlers who are ready to take over international cricket,” said Tiwary.
“But when you know you have a bench strength, when you have a pool of fast bowlers who are really doing well, then obviously he should not have been picked in the first place,” he added.
Tiwary further chastised the administration, including head coach Gautam Gambhir, for informing England of Bumrah's status well in advance.
“So, that's my take. And also, before the series, it was reported in the media that he's going to play only three tests. Tell me one thing: why would you want to give your insights to the opposition leader or opposition team? So England knew that Bumrah was going to play only three games.
So, they prepared, and they got more confident, although they lost out on winning the series due to their own mistakes, but why would you tell them beforehand? Those are the things that I think were missed by selectors and Team India as well,” Tiwary concluded.
Jasprit Bumrah has 219 wickets in 48 Test matches at an average of 19.82 and a best bowling of 6/27.