“I find it nonsensical” - Sanjay Manjrekar on Jasprit Bumrah choosing to play 1st, 3rd & 5th Tests against England

Former Indian cricketer and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has felt the decision to play the Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah in the first, third, and five Tests as nonsensical. Notably, Bumrah scalped five wickets in the opening Test of the England tour.

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It’s important to note that the chief selector, Ajit Agarkar, while announcing the Indian squad, stated that the seamer would play only three out of five Tests on the England tour to manage his workload.

“I find it nonsensical that he’ll play 1, 3, and 5. You just got to be realistic in sport, in life as well. You can’t preempt anything. What India did well was that Bumrah played in the first Test. Whatever the talks, I don’t see him resting in the second,” Sanjay Manjrekar told ESPNCricinfo.

"India also know that he’s got to play. I always believe that instead of making long-term plans, there’s always gonna be clarity, absolute clarity at the end of every Test match, whether Bumrah should play the next or rest the next,” he added.

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Furthermore, Manjrekar stated that India doesn’t have any other option than picking Bumrah in the playing XI for the second Test. Though Bumrah scalped a fifer in the first innings of the Leeds Test, he couldn’t replicate his heroics in the second innings.

“I don’t think India has a choice. He’s got to play. He didn’t bowl as much as one would’ve thought in the second innings, plus he didn’t take the field towards the end as well. Long enough gap, and if he doesn’t play now and we’ve seen how the bowling attack looks even with Bumrah in the second innings in the last Test,” he stated.

India will lock horns with England in the second Test of the five-match series at Edgbaston, Birmingham, starting on Wednesday, July 2.

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