Picture Credit: X
The Shubman Gill-led Indian cricket team are currently taking on England in a five-match Test series in the UK. Despite a batting show in the series opener in Leeds, where they scored 835 runs across the two innings with the help of five centuries, they went down against England by five wickets on the final day. However, with a lot of things to work upon, the Men in Blue will hope to come out good in the upcoming second Test, set to be played from July 2 to 6 at Edgbaston in Birmingham, the bowlers will have a lot of work to do.
It is to be noted that in the bowling department, Jasprit Bumrah stood out as a lone warrior, picking five wickets in the first England innings. However, he went wicketless in the second innings, he also failed to get support from other bowlers. Seeing Bumrah, to be a key pacer in the Indian lineup and with speculations on his participation in the second Test going rife, former Protean international, AB de Villiers has questioned his mismanagement.
Team India needs to manage him well: AB de Villiers on Bumrah
Speaking in his latest podcast on his YouTube channel, AB de Villiers claimed, “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."
The 41-year-old also cited the example of former Protea pacer Dale Steyn, stating, "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.”
The great of the game did not stop here as he called out the BCCI for his mismanagement. “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,” he concluded.
However, it has to be seen if Bumrah will play the Edgbaston Test, but head coach Gautam Gambhir reiterated Ajit Agarkar’s comments to play Bumrah in only three matches in the ongoing tour.
