Poetic Justice: Former India Batter Takes Dig At Jasprit Bumrah

India did extremely well to bounce back against England and level the Test series 2-2. After going 1-2 down at Lord's, they drew the Manchester Test and won the fifth Test at The Oval by just six runs. They also won the second Test at Edgbaston by a record 336-run margin.

The one common thing about those wins were the fact that India's spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was missing. Bumrah played just three Tests to manage his workload, and in all those three games, India failed to win.

Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar feels that it was "poetic justice." 

"The game will always show us the mirror, however much we try and gloss over things," Manjrekar wrote in his column for HT.

"It was poetic justice that the two Tests India won were the two matches Bumrah did not play.  This should embolden the Indian selectors to make some hard choices when it comes to big-name players. This series has been a great lesson to them and to us too. The two Test victories India achieved did not feature Virat [Kohli], [Cheteshwar] Pujara, Rohit [Sharma], [Mohammed] Shami or Bumrah! 

"It reminded us of the eternal truth of sport and life — no one, however great, is indispensable. And this is how India must handle Bumrah."

Manjrekar also went on to add that Bumrah must adjust to the needs of Indian cricket and not the other way around.

“As for Bumrah, of whom I am a fan, if he really wants to serve Indian Test cricket, longevity and durability are imperative for him," he said. 

"After all, the true test of a great athlete is to still turn up when not 100% fit and deliver,” said Manjrekar. “Indian cricket must not adjust for Bumrah — Bumrah must. That is, if he wants to."

Bumrah picked up 14 wickets in the three Tests he played, including a couple of five-wicket hauls.