‘Strange about the selection…’: Former India cricketer questions BCCI’s justification for overlooking Jasprit Bumrah as captain

Shubman Gill’s appointment as India’s Test captain meant Jasprit Bumrah missed out on the role. Despite being the top-ranked Test bowler in the ICC rankings, Bumrah was not considered due to concerns over his injury record, fitness, and workload.

Chief selector Ajit Agarkar stated that Bumrah is expected to play only three of the five Tests against England in June. Still, former India cricketer and expert Sanjay Manjrekar expressed his disappointment over Bumrah not being given a shot at captaincy.

“What I found strange about the selection was the captain’s choice. I just failed to understand why Bumrah was not even considered,” Manjrekar said, speaking on ESPNcricinfo

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Manjrekar pointed out that using Bumrah’s limited availability as a reason to overlook him for captaincy was unfair, as the same standard wasn’t applied to former captains like Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma.

“The reason for that was his likelihood of not playing the entire series. We’ve had Rohit Sharma, who recently captained India and played only three of the five test matches. We had Virat Kohli in the past opting out of test matches and not playing the full series. But still, the captain,” Manjrekar stated.

While announcing the 18-member squad for the England tour on Saturday, India’s chief selector Ajit Agarkar stated that Jasprit Bumrah has not received clearance from the medical staff and physios to play all five Tests of the series, which begins in Leeds on June 20.

“I don’t think he’s available for all five Tests going by what the physios and the doctors have told us,” Agarkar said when asked if Bumrah was available for the entire series.