Former international cricketers Ravichandran Ashwin and AB de Villiers recently discussed the hot topic concerning Jasprit Bumrah's workload. Bumrah recently played four home Tests in a row, featuring against West Indies and South Africa.
Ashwin said that if it was up to him, he would advise Bumrah to play only limited-overs cricket, particularly 20-over cricket. However, Ashwin highlighted Bumrah's love for Test cricket and reasoned that he will continue to give the longest format his all despite
being a injury-prone player.
“If I were anywhere near him, I'd tell him to stick to white-ball cricket. Unless India desperately need him, don’t step into the Test side. But I know him well. He loves the format and wants to keep playing despite the challenge. For India’s sake and Bumrah’s sake, I’d rather he focus on T20 cricket. Not waste energy on meaningless ODIs. Play only the Tests that matter, especially the away ones,” stated Ashwin in a video on his YouTube channel.
De Villiers seconded Ashwin's thoughts and opined that the right-armer should be used only in the Tests played in the SENA nations in addition to white-ball cricket where there is a World Cup occurring almost every other year.
"I’d pull him out of all the home and Asian Tests. Use him only in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and England. Keep him fresh for those, and let him focus on the white-ball formats where World Cups are on the line," noted de Villiers.
Bumrah has undergone several injury setbacks in the past and he has had to experience substantial layoffs from participating in competitive cricket. Ashwin and de Villiers' comments come as India brace themselves to finetune their squad for the 2026 T20 World Cup and 2027 World Cup.
Bumrah has been rested from the Men in Blue's ODI squad for their upcoming three-match series against the Proteas. The T20I squad for the five-match series to be played against the same opposition is yet to be released by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
