Former India cricketer and ex-chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil has come down heavily on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for allowing Jasprit Bumrah to feature in only three out of the five Tests against England in the Anderson–Tendulkar Trophy 2025.
Before the tour, head coach Gautam Gambhir had revealed that Bumrah would be rested for two Tests as part of a carefully monitored workload plan, especially after the pacer suffered a stress fracture in his back during the latter stages of the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The speedster played the first, third, and fourth Tests but sat out the crucial fifth match, which India needed to win to level the series.
Sandeep Patil Slams BCCI’s Workload Policy for Bumrah
While some fans criticised Bumrah for “picking and choosing” games, others defended him, citing his injury history. However, Patil strongly objected to the policy, questioning the influence of medical staff in team selection.
“𝑰𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒉𝒚𝒔𝒊𝒐 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒂𝒄𝒉? 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔? 𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒉𝒚𝒔𝒊𝒐 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒔?” 𝑷𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂 𝑻𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚.
‘When You Are Picked for Your Country, You Die for Your Country’
Patil invoked the examples of Indian greats Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, recalling their unmatched commitment to the national team.
“𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒚, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒊𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒚. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒓. 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝑺𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒍 𝑮𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒂𝒓 𝒃𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝑻𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑲𝒂𝒑𝒊𝒍 𝑫𝒆𝒗 𝒃𝒐𝒘𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒍𝒚, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒕𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒔 𝒐𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 16 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔,” 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅.
Sharing a personal anecdote, Patil added that he himself did not miss the next Test after suffering a head injury in Australia in 1981.
Modern Players Have More Facilities, Yet Miss Games
The 1983 World Cup winner noted that today’s cricketers enjoy advanced rehab facilities, something past generations didn’t have. Despite limited medical support in his playing days, players would often push through injuries to represent the nation.
“Modern-day players have all the facilities. We didn’t have such rehab programmes. Sometimes, we played through pain without fuss. Let’s just say we were happy playing for the country — no drama,” Patil said.
While appreciating how batting techniques have evolved over the years, Patil made it clear that he cannot accept players opting out of games.
“𝑰 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒍 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒘. 𝑰𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆, 𝑺𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒍 𝑮𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒂𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒖𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒔. 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆 — 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏’𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒈𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔,”
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