Gavaskar sends Bumrah blunt message on workload ahead of India's Asia Cup squad selection: 'Nobody is indispensable'

Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar reminded star pacer Jasprit Bumrah of the fact that “nobody is indispensable” in the Indian team while discussing the upcoming Asia Cup as well as the home Test season that takes place after.

Bumrah finds himself at the centre of a major debate within the Indian cricket community over his workload management after skipping two out of five Tests in the recent tour of England, including the series finale at The Oval.

Selectors need to decide on Bumrah, urges Gavaskar

And former captain Gavaskar has largely been critical of Bumrah’s “pick and choose” behaviour, stating that the game eventually “moves on” regardless of a player’s stature.

“Nobody is indispensable. That’s why it is of prime importance for the selectors to now decide when Jasprit Bumrah should be playing. There’s already been a lot of debate about his appearances in the recently-concluded series in England,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid Day.

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“To be fair, he had informed the selection committee that he could play only three Tests out of the five. The debate that has generated some heat is whether he should have played the last must-win Test match, especially since it was the grassiest pitch at the Oval in a long time.

“The next Test match was in early October, and so there were two clear months for him to rest and recover in time for that. The Indian team management stated that he wasn’t picked considering his future. This is where the lines between what is good for the individual and what is good for Indian cricket got a little blurred.

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“Surely at that stage if he was fit, then for Indian cricket’s sake, he had to play. Whether then it was his call or the management’s call not to play is not known, but in the end after India’s win it showed once again if ever there was need to know that nobody is indispensable in the game. The game just moves on,” he added.

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Bumrah, who had suffered a back injury in January that has forced the Indian team management to be careful about his bowling workload, had reportedly reached out to the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee informing them of his availability for the upcoming Asia Cup.

The 31-year-old speedster has not played white-ball cricket for India since starring in the Rohit Sharma-led side’s triumph in last year’s T20 World Cup.