“I think we should listen to them” - Ex-Indian selector backs Jasprit Bumrah for playing only three Tests

Former Indian chief selector Chetan Sharma has come out in defense of the Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who played only three out of the five Tests in the recently concluded Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy to manage his workload.

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Chetan stated that players should go by the physios’ advice as they are the better judges. While Bumrah played the first Test, he later took part in the third and fourth Tests of the five-match series. Interestingly, India failed to bag a win in all three games.

“If the medical team advises, if the doctor tells me that I have to take antibiotics, then I have to consume them. If our physios are telling a player to manage workload, I think we should listen to them because they are the better judges," said Chetan Sharma on the sidelines of Prasar Bharati signing a deal with CricViz on Monday for the telecast of 104 episodes of "The Great Indian Cricket Show" on Doordarshan.

Chetan Sharma further heaped praise on the Indian Test team, led by Shubman Gill, for putting up a great effort and levelling the series 2-2. Furthermore, he also sounded confident of India lifting the Asia Cup 2025 title.

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"I know that whoever is selected will be the best for the country. And the kind of cricket we are playing right now, I'm really proud of the way India played in England. And I’m very confident that we are definitely going to win the Asia Cup [to be played in T20 format] because soon after that we are playing the T20 World Cup [in 2026] in India,” he added.

"It's a very big thing when you are playing [the World Cup] in your own backyard. If the intent is right, the results will also be good," he noted.

When asked if Gill deserves a spot in the Indian T20I team for the Asia Cup 2025 campaign, Chetan Sharma asserted that the best 15 players who deserve a spot should be selected in the squad for the showpiece event.

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"Look, that is up to the selectors what they see. My opinion does not matter because I am no longer the chairman [of selectors], so I will only say that the best possible team should be selected. We have such good cricketers that not just the top-15 but even if the top-30 are selected, they are all very good. Really proud of them," he concluded.

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