“India should prepare Bumrah for the 5 tests”: Gill obtains a warning

Former South African cricketer Ab de Villiers reckons that India should focus on preparing Jasprit Bumrah for all five Tests. As confirmed by coach Gambhir and the ace speedster himself, he will only be a part of 3 Tests in the ongoing five-match ENG vs IND Test series. Ahead of the Edgbaston Test, de Villiers urged India to unleash Bumrah in all the games while also imploring them to manage him better.

Should Bumrah play all 5 ENG vs IND Tests?

In a video on his YouTube channel, de Villiers claimed that Bumrah is the top bowler across formats and that it was tough to rest him. However, he suggested that Team India get him ready to play all five Tests in England, given that England are already 1-0 up in the series.

“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.

Further, ABD implored India to manage Bumrah well, going to hint if the pacer not playing all five Tests was because of sheer mismanagement. Bumrah sustained a recurring back injury in the last Test against Australia as a result of being India’s most overworked bowler in the previous calendar year. He then made a comeback in IPL 2025 after spending four months on the sidelines.

“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,” de Villiers added.