'Test cricket is the ultimate form of the game, and...': AB de Villiers opines to 'get Jasprit Bumrah ready for all Test matches' against England

Former South Africa captain AB de Villiers believes that the ongoing Tendulkar-Anderson series in England should have been the priority for Jasprit Bumrah to play in all five Tests, not just three, as planned by Indian management, considering his workload.

Shubman Gill-led India have lost the first Test match against England by five wickets. The team is currently in Birmingham for the second Test match, which will take place from 2-6 July at Edgbaston Stadium. There are reports that pace sensation Bumrah will not feature in the second Test because of workload management.

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“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,” De Villiers said on his YouTube channel.

“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 40-year-old, who faced Bumrah during the latter stages of his career, offered a comparison with how South Africa used to handle Dale Steyn.

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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 explained.

Ahead of the Test series, chief selector and head coach Gautam Gambhir also mentioned that Jasprit Bumrah will not feature in all five Test matches. Bumrah is making his international comeback after recovering from the injury he got in the five-Test match series of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. The speedster was the highest wicket-taker in Australia, picking 32 wickets in the series before getting injured in the fifth Test. After getting injured, Bumrah missed the ICC Champions Trophy and made his cricketing comeback in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 for the Mumbai Indians (MI).