‘People should keep their egos aside’, Rahul Dravid slammed for rejecting Jasprit Bumrah’s test
On Friday (December 20), the Rahul Dravid-led National Cricket Academy (NCA) refused to conduct India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah’s fitness test in Bengaluru. This created a state confusion among many but it is believed that the NCA asked the 25-year-old to continue to consult his own specialists who have overseen his whole treatment.
While Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief Sourav Ganguly opined that he will have a word with his former teammate Rahul Dravid to know more details in this regard, TOI cited a source as saying: “At no point in time did Bumrah act on his own. He was asked to report in Visakhapatnam and bowl in the nets, which he did. He was asked to travel from Visakhapatnam to the NCA in Bangalore, which he did as instructed. The NCA told him that they could not conduct his fitness test and asked him to return to Mumbai, which he did. The decisions were not his.”
The source further went onto support Bumrah, who has accordingly just followed instructions, and affirmed that a needless controversy should not be created and leave the premier speedster out of this.
“Whatever the controversy, the bowler needs to be left out of it. He’s 24 years old and a prized asset for Indian cricket. People should keep their egos aside and work towards his progress, not create a controversy. It is never the cricketer’s decision. A player will only do what he’s told to do. If Rahul (Dravid) saw no point in NCA conducting Bumrah’s fitness, he should tell the same thing to BCCI and it is for them to understand,” added the source.
Bumrah has been out of action since the conclusion of the West Indies tour in August-September 2019. He had a fruitful tour of the Caribbean island with 13 wickets, including two five-fors, and returned after being only the third Indian bowler to claim a Test hat-trick.
Since then, Virat Kohli-led Team India has closely monitored his fitness. Bumrah was even seen in the nets ahead of the second and penultimate ODI between India and West Indies in Visakhapatnam this week.
It remains to be seen when a clearer picture will emerge from this scenario. Indian fans are waiting eagerly for the return of Bumrah in the national setup.
