Former BCCI selection committee chairman and a World Cup winner, Sandip Patil, has torn apart the current regime of selectors over ace seamer Jasprit Bumrah’s selection conundrum, calling the debatable ‘workload management’ nonsense. Bumrah missed two Tests on the recently concluded tour of England, playing three games, as suggested by team doctors concerning his workload management. Although he missed the final Test due to niggle, his absence did put Indian bowlers in a tight spot; however, they won both games Bumrah didn’t feature in.
Bumrah’s history with back injuries has cost him and India a lot before; lately, during India’s away tour of Australia, he suffered a back stress fracture during the final Test, leading to him missing almost four months of on-field cricket. However, to manage it better, the team physios and NCA doctors advised the team management against playing him more than three matches on a long away tour. As a result, Bumrah featured in just three games against England, picking 14 wickets.
Patil, who chaired the selection committee from 2012 to 2016 and granted a rookie Bumrah a chance on the away Australian tour, slammed the workload management concept, adding ‘You are either fit or you are not.’
“I wonder how the BCCI is agreeing to all this. Is the physio more important than the captain, than the head coach? What about selectors? Are we to expect that the physio will be sitting in selection committee meetings now?” Patil said while speaking to Mid-Day.
“Workload management is nonsense. You are either fit or unfit, and that’s how we [his selection committee] picked teams. We did not entertain this workload business,” Patil added.
Citing examples of former cricketers, including Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and himself, Patil said that the players play for their country and die for it. He said that during his playing career, he watched these greats of the game practice and play all the time without complaining of any injury.
“When you are picked for your country, you die for your country. You are a warrior. I have seen Sunil Gavaskar bat on all five days of a match, I’ve seen Kapil Dev bowl on most days of a Test match, and even bowl to us in the nets. They never asked for breaks, never complained, and their careers extended to 16-plus years. I didn’t miss the next Test after my head injury in Australia in 1981,” Patil continued.