AB de Villiers says he doesn’t think Jasprit Bumrah will play all matches in Asia Cup

Former South African captain AB de Villiers feels Jasprit Bumrah will not play all matches in the Asia Cup. AB reckons the Indian gun fast bowler will continue to manage his workload in the continental tournament.

Bumrah recently played three out of the five Test matches against England and picked 14 wickets at an average of 26. The ace pacer has been questioned by a lot of cricket pundits in the recent past after he missed two Test matches against England.

In fact, Bumrah was expected to be rested for the Asia Cup but the Gujarat pacer has been included in India’s 15-man squad as there was a good gap after the conclusion of England series and the start of Asia Cup.

AB de Villiers said on his YouTube Channel, “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. That’s how you should be managing your senior and most impactful players.”

“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. 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.”

On the other hand, the former RCB batter also showered praise on Kuldeep Yadav ahead of the Asia Cup. 

“He (Kuldeep) is skilled and very bold. He gives the ball a lot of flight and is a wonderful player. A very skillful sportsman, he’s quick on his feet with a great hand-eye coordination. He’s not your ordinary bowler that just bowls and isn’t good in the field. He’s got a very good brain and outsmarts the batters,” said De Villiers (via the aforementioned source).

Yadav picked 15 wickets in 14 matches for Delhi Capitals at an impressive economy rate of 7.07 in IPL 2025.