If You Are Unfit, Don’t Play: Vengsarkar Criticizes Jasprit Bumrah's Selective Test Participation

Former Indian cricketer Dilip Vengsarkar criticized Jasprit Bumrah for his absence in the crucial five-match test series against England. Bumrah has already missed the second test due to his workload management and is all set to miss one more upcoming test. Before the start of the series, it was pre-decided that he would be playing only three tests on the tour, to which official announcement was made by head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill.

Bumrah missed the Edgbaston Test, in which India recorded their historic win; Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep turned out to be a game changer for the team, and now there are reports that he might miss the upcoming Manchester test. Currently India is trailing in the series by 1-2; it is assumed that team management might do some last-minute changes in the plan.

To this, Vengsarkar didn't hesitate while criticizing Bumrah's selective participation for workload management. He raised questions on players selecting the matches, stating that if the player is unfit, then they shouldn't be playing at all.

He said,

"I'm not in favor of bowlers picking and choosing test matches. If you're fit and available, you should play all the matches for your country. Bumrah is a world-class bowler, and he can win matches for India. But once you're on tour, you need to play every match. There's no question of selecting matches based on personal preference."

This step of giving rest to Bumrah in between series came after the bowler was injured while playing all five tests against Australia in 2024-25. Due to the injury, he missed three months of competitive cricket.

Further, Vengsarkar said,

"What is important is playing for India, and if you are unfit, then don't play at all. He had a gap of almost 7-8 days after the first Test match but still was not included for the second test, which was not acceptable. Maybe it was acceptable for Agrakar and Gambhir."

The fourth test will commence on July 23 at Old Trafford in Manchester. Now it will be interesting to see if Bumrah will be playing or not in the do-or-die match against England.