ENG vs IND: "That’s what we used to do with Dale Steyn"- AB de Villiers shares how Jasprit Bumrah can play all five tests against England

AB de Villiers suggests India should play Jasprit Bumrah in all five test matches against England.

Former South Africa cricketer AB de Villiers feels that India should play Jasprit Bumrah in all five tests in the ongoing test series against England. The India Cricket Team and the England Cricket Team are locking horns in a five-match test series for the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.

Bumrah is a crucial pacer for India in the series. The right-arm pacer grabbed a wonderful five-wicket haul in the opening test match at Headingley, Leeds. While other Indian bowlers struggled to get wickets in the first innings, Bumrah demolished England’s top order with his pace and brilliant lines and lengths..

However, the senior Indian pacer is going to miss at least two games out of the five tests against England. Ahead of India’s tour of England 2025, India head coach Gautam Gambhir and Indian selectors confirmed that Bumrah will only play three matches in the series to manage his workload during the campaign.

AB de Villiers urges India to use Jasprit Bumrah like South Africa used Dale Steyn

De Villiers has cited an example of former Proteas pace legend Dale Steyn to suggest how India can utilise Bumrah. Villiers revealed that South Africa used to play Steyn in all crucial test series and rest him during less important ODI and T20I series to manage his workload.

“He [Jasprit Bumrah] 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,” he was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

“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,” De Villiers further said.

Notably, Bumrah sustained a back injury after the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 against Australia earlier this year. As a result, he was ruled out of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Bumrah revealed that doctors told him to manage his workload in future. However, De Villiers feels that it is up to team management to decide how to manage his workload.

“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. 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,” the 41-year-old added.

Meanwhile, after Rohit Sharma’s retirement, Bumrah was looked upon as a good choice for test captaincy. However, he opted out of captaincy as he was not sure to play all five test matches against England. Hence, Shubman Gill was appointed as the new test captain of the side.

Meanwhile, India and England will lock horns in the second test at Edgbaston, Birmingham. The encounter will be played from July 2. The hosts lead the five-match series 1-0 after winning the opening game by five wickets.

For more updates, follow Khel Now Cricket on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram.