“He is 24-carat pure gold and Kohinoor diamond” - Aakash Chopra gives his verdict on Jasprit Bumrah ‘picking and choosing’ Tests

Former Indian cricketer and commentator Aakash Chopra has given his opinion on the Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah missing two out of the five Tests in the recently concluded Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, which India levelled the series by 2-2.

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There have been a lot of reports that Bumrah is picking and choosing games to manage his workload, which didn’t go down well with a lot of former cricketers. However, Chopra asserted that a player of Bumrah’s caliber can play whenever he can.

"I was also reading Sanjay Manjrekar's piece. In the Hindustan Times, he wrote that the team shouldn't adjust for Bumrah and, instead, Bumrah should adjust for the team. I know there are plenty of opinions as to what should be done. I will be honest, I don't think he will play all Test matches," Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

"He is going to pick and choose. Whether it's right or wrong, it's not a moral or ethical debate, is what I think. If you have a player of that level available, play him whenever he can," he added.

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Furthermore, Chopra reckoned that unlike batters, bowlers need to be rotated in a series of three or five Tests, which already happened in Bumrah’s case in the just concluded England tour. Additionally, the former cricketer felt Bumrah wouldn’t play too much of Test cricket.

"Jasprit Bumrah, as a bowler, you can adjust the bowling combination very easily. It doesn't make a difference. If Bumrah had been a batter, a No. 4 or an opener, and had said that he would play two matches and won't play after that, then it's a problem. Bowlers need to be rotated in any case in a series of three or four Tests," he said.

"There is no bowler like Bumrah. Don't push him forcibly towards early retirement because he is 24-carat pure gold. He is the Kohinoor diamond. The longer he plays, the better it is. I don't think he will play too much Test cricket, but for however long he plays, I would say hold onto it. That's just my feeling," Chopra observed.

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