Jasprit Bumrah doesn’t commit to India enough? T20I absence after IPL 2026 confuses Sanjay Manjrekar

Sanjay Manjrekar is perplexed as to why Jasprit Bumrah hasn’t committed to T20I cricket. The former Indian batter believes Bumrah was a prime candidate to replace Suryakumar Yadav as India’s new T20I captain, but since he hasn’t made himself available, first Shubman Gill one-upped him to become India’s Test captain, and now Shreyas Iyer has done the same.

Jasprit Bumrah not committed enough?

Manjrekar understands why Bumrah picks and chooses which matches to play but thinks that after featuring in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 despite carrying a niggle, he would be available for India’s tours of Ireland and England in June and July.

“Bumrah is somebody… I’m just confused about how his career is going in terms of his availability. I thought Bumrah was the frontrunner to become India’s T20 captain because I thought he could handle the T20 workload. But it seems like he’s not very keen to play every game that India plays,” Manjrekar told the Sony Sports Network.

Absence as per BCCI’s plan

However, what Manjrekar doesn’t understand is that Bumrah doesn’t have that control. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) doesn’t want their most important player to feature in useless bilateral T20I series when the T20 World Cup isn’t anywhere near.

Chairman of Selectors Ajit Agarkar clearly stated that the BCCI wants Bumrah fit and ready for ODI cricket with the 2027 World Cup approaching and pays equal respect to Test cricket with the World Test Championship (WTC) mace also on the line.

“Here is a guy who actually rests and keeps himself fit for certain India games. It’s a very different approach, something that I don’t understand. I just wish that he would commit himself more to India. I can understand the workload he feels for Test and ODI cricket is extremely demanding. But considering that he played the entire IPL, I thought he would be able to take the workload of a few T20 matches in Ireland and England.

I wish he were available. He was my go-to captain, certainly deserving on ability and leadership quality. But because Bumrah hasn’t been keen on taking captaincy, it’s gone prematurely to Shubman Gill in Test cricket and now Shreyas Iyer in T20I,” he added.

Why won’t Bumrah want to become India’s captain? He’s made it clear on several occasions when he took over as Test captain on two different occasions. In IPL 2026, he even took a slight dig at the Mumbai Indians (MI) for not handing him the captaincy. But it’s clear that due to workload management, he can’t captain India.

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