Jasprit Bumrah's absence from list of recommendations for Arjuna Award raises eyebrows

Today, the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah form the core members of the Indian cricket team because they play in all formats of the game. With Kohli and Sharma being bestowed with top honours from the government of India like Arjuna Award apart from being recommended for the Rajeev Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Jasprit Bumrah is yet to be recognised after his successful stint at the international level for more than four years.

Sources told Sportskeeda that Jasprit Bumrah has been asked to fill the form for the Arjuna Award and last year, BCCI did recommend his name along with three other cricketers namely Poonam Yadav, Mohd Shami and Ravindra Jadeja.

Notably, it was only Poonam and Jadeja who were awarded. Sources said that this year too, Jasprit Bumrah was asked to fill the form, but BCCI recommended only three names for the award – Ishant Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Deepti Sharma, while Rohit Sharma’s name was recommended for the Khel Ratna Award.

Neither the BCCI officials nor Jasprit Bumrah were available for comment. However, a certain section within BCCI isn’t amused by the apex body’s recommendations this year.

“Surprisingly, Jasprit Bumrah is not in the mix. When there is no intention of honouring the candidate, why should that cricketer be told to fill the Arjuna Award while nominating names," the source said.

No recognition despite Jasprit Bumrah's consistency

Jasprit Bumrah is one of India's most consistent bowlers across formats

Jasprit Bumrah, since his Test debut against South Africa in 2018 is the main strike bowler of the Indian team in all formats of the game. Thus far, he has played 14 Test matches for India and has picked up 68 wickets at an average of 20.3. He also has five five-wicket hauls. In ODIs too, he has grabbed 104 scalps from 64 games while in the T20I format, he has bagged 59 wickets from 50 matches.

“Jasprit Bumrah is doing so much for the country for the last four years or so. And yet, there is no recognition from anyone. Of course, Ishant Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are seniors, but you can’t be recommending names for the sake of it. The board should also ensure that their names are taken seriously by the concerned screening committee,” the source added.