After seeing his minutes managed through the tour of England, which saw him play only three of the five matches in that series, Jasprit Bumrah was something of a surprise inclusion for the Asia Cup this month in the UAE. While he is undoubtedly one of the best players in the history of the T20 format, India’s depth meant that they still had other options to rely on.
However, India’s depth combined with Bumrah’s mercurial ability in big matches could prove to be a blessing in disguise, according to another man who understands the T20 format inside out in AB de Villiers. Speaking on his Youtube channel, the South African legend predicted that Bumrah would be used as a horses-for-courses option against the stronger teams in the competition.
“Great to see him in the squad, fit and ready to go. I don’t think he will play all the games. I saw reports saying he will be earmarked for the games that matter and I love that about the selectors being proactive,” said de Villiers, commending the Ajit Agarkar-led selection unit. “That’s how you should be managing your senior and most impactful players.”
De Villiers expects to see Bumrah back to his best
De Villiers also mentioned that this is the sort of careful planning that is required particularly as players age. Especially so given Bumrah was forced to miss a major tournament earlier this year, sitting out of the Champions Trophy after sustaining an injury in Australia, where many thought he was overworked in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
“It’s not like they are picking and choosing. So much cricket these days that for your older guys, over age 30, their work has taken its toll over the years,” explained de Villiers. “Some selectors understand it and some don’t. And once you start managing these players, you will get the best out of them and I love it that they’ve started doing that with Jasprit Bumrah.”
Jasprit Bumrah looked just short of his best in England, albeit that is a very high bar to try and meet time and again. Rather than trying to force his Mumbai Indians teammate through these games in an attempt to play him into form, Suryakumar Yadav might find more value in using his as a specialist gun bowler for the latter stages of the tournament, against the teams which will pose India a bigger threat.
There remains strength in depth for Gautam Gambhir and Yadav to call upon, with Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, and Hardik Pandya all other frontline options in the team.