Jasprit Bumrah is the best pace bowler of the Indian team, and not just India, he is now called the greatest bowler of all time in cricket. He is one of the few players in Team India who play all three formats, and all because of his brilliance in all three formats. Now, to allow him to manage his workload, India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir has decided to make him play 3 test matches out of 5 in England.
AB de Villiers Questions Selectors Over Limiting Jasprit Bumrah to 3 Tests
However, this decision has not gone well with Ex-RCB player and former South Africa captain AB de Villiers, and he has raised his concern over this decision. He has almost asked a question to the selectors for not letting Bumrah play all five test matches.
While discussing this matter on his YouTube channel de Villiers said, “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.”
Test Cricket Against England Too Important to Miss, Says de Villiers
According to him, Test Cricket is the most important format in cricket and when you are playing against England, then a major to miss it.
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,” he added.
Jasprit Bumrah’s Workload Management Compared to Dale Steyn by AB de Villiers
He draws a comparison with Dale Steyn and how the South African team used to handle him and manage his workload.
“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 said while comparing Bumrah’s workload management.
Injury Concerns or Mismanagement? AB de Villiers Seeks Clarity
The 360-degree player also questioned Team India’s selection and termed it as ‘mismanagement’ what keeping in mind they took this decision.
“So, I don’t know if it was mismanagement or perhaps because he recently got back from injury, sort of saw the IPL as the warmup phase,” he added.
“Maybe, went to the surgeon, who let him know, ‘You can’t play the five Test matches.’ So, I mean you got to respect that, and at the end of the day, it’s up to Team India to sort of manage him well. It doesn’t get bigger than that, guys, except for maybe the WTC final,” he concluded.
Team India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has confirmed that Bumrah is available for the second test match, but it’s not certain if he will play in it or not. The call will be taken on the very final day.
