The Indian team has gotten off to a subpar start to the ongoing Test series against England. Taking on the side in the first test of the series at Headingley in Leeds, India succumbed to a five-wicket loss to the hosts after England’s batting attack put in a good show in the second innings of the game.
After the conclusion of the first Test, it was confirmed that India’s ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah will only be playing three out of the five tests in the series and will be rested for two test matches.
Speaking on the same, former South Africa cricketer AB de Villiers took centre stage and talked about how the Proteas used to manage their ace pacer Dale Steyn back in the day and drew his comparison to Jasprit Bumrah.
“He is probably the top bowler in the world in all formats right now. So, it’s very difficult to decide a way to rest him, but in my opinion, Test cricket is the ultimate form of the game. And this Test series probably would’ve been the one, in my opinion, to get him ready for all five Test matches,” De Villiers said in a video on his YouTube channel.
“That’s what we used to do with Dale (Steyn). Rest him in lesser important T20 and ODI series and get him ready for the big Test series against Australia, England, and India away from home... New Zealand to a certain extent, depending on the rankings at that time,” he added.
De Villiers opined Bumrah should play all four remaining Tests
Furthermore, AB de Villiers talked about how the Indian team is managing Jasprit Bumrah’s workload. He reflected on whether the board is just managing his workload or avoiding an injury that puts him out of contention from playing for the next few years.
“They are scared of him getting a very bad injury and being out for a few years, or is it managing workload? If it’s the latter, I don’t know if they’ve gone right about this workload management leading up to this huge five-Test match series. It doesn’t get bigger than that, guys, except for maybe the WTC final,” he said.