“I don’t think he will play all the games” - AB de Villiers makes a stunning statement on star Indian player ahead of Asia Cup 2025

Former South African dashing batter AB de Villiers has opened up on the Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah’s inclusion for the forthcoming Asia Cup 2025 campaign, scheduled to start on Tuesday, September 9, in the United Arab Emirates.

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Speaking on his YouTube channel, AB de Villiers has stated that Bumrah might not play all the games in the Asia Cup campaign as the seamer might need to manage his workload during the showpiece event.

“Great to see him (Bumrah) 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,” AB de Villiers said on his YouTube channel.

Notably, the Indian chief selector had informed the media ahead of the England tour that Bumrah would take part in three out of five Tests. As informed, Bumrah played only three Tests, and interestingly, he missed out on the fifth Test when his services were needed the most, raising eyebrows.

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Furthermore, the former explosive batter also added that it’s not about picking and choosing games, but about managing the workload of the best players of the squad to bring the best out of them in most important games.

“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,” he added.

India’s squad for Asia Cup: Surya Kumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (WK), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh.

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Standby players: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel.

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