Jasprit Bumrah with head coach Gautam Gambhir [Source: @Tejashyyyyy/x.com]India may have been cruising after big wins in the first two T20Is against New Zealand, but the biggest talking point ahead of the second match in Raipur wasn’t India’s batting depth or the Kiwi bowling attack. It was Jasprit Bumrah sitting out. The team management decided to rest Bumrah for the second T20I in Raipur, with Harshit Rana coming into India’s playing XI. This decision didn’t go down well with former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif, who slammed the decision and went straight for the jugular. Kaif questions the logic behind Bumrah’s rest Bumrah had a rare quiet match in Nagpur. He went wicketless in the series opener. Still, India won in style by 48 runs. One off day doesn’t change the fact that Bumrah is Bumrah. And on Friday, when Bumrah completed 10 years in international cricket, India made the call to keep him on the sidelines. With the T20 World Cup 2026 just around the corner, the management has been extra careful with his workload, but Kaif clearly feels they are overthinking it. Kaif was fuming on his YouTube channel and straight up questioned what “workload” even means in this case. “Rest for what? What workload? Did he just come back after playing a lot? He has already come after taking proper rest. No, no, this thing just doesn’t make sense to me,” Kaif said on his YouTube channel. And honestly, his words make sense. Kaif is basically saying India are trying to fix something that isn’t broken. Kaif says rest Arshdeep not BumrahAccording to Kaif, if India wanted to rotate and manage workload, the obvious candidate wasn’t Bumrah. It was Arshdeep Singh. “If you want to give rest, give rest to Arshdeep Singh. If you want to bring in Harshit Rana, if Axar Patel is injured and you need batting at number eight, then rest Arshdeep and bring in Bumrah. I mean, why are we even comparing here? There is no comparison at all,” Kaif added.The funny part is Bumrah wasn’t being overworked anyway. The Nagpur match was Bumrah’s first game in over a month. He last played in Ahmedabad against South Africa on December 19. He had featured in three out of four T20Is in that series and picked up four wickets. So from Kaif’s point of view, this rest looks unnecessary. Almost like the team management is playing too safe. Kaif says Bumrah is untouchable in team combinations Kaif also made it very clear that Bumrah is not someone who gets dropped because of combinations or batting depth. Bumrah is not a “depends on conditions” kind of player. He is a straight walk into the XI and Kaif made that clear in strong words. “If Bumrah was left out because of a combination, saying that you need batting at number eight, then that is wrong. No power in the world can keep Bumrah out because of team combination. The team will adjust the combination, but Bumrah will play in the XI,” he added. India looking to clinch the series in GuwahatiIndia and New Zealand now head to Guwahati for the third T20I on Sunday. The final two games will be played in Visakhapatnam and Thiruvananthapuram. With the World Cup creeping closer, expect more rotation, more debates and more heat. However, one thing is clear: if Bumrah sits again, the debate is only going to intensify.
