Jasprit Bumrah is the perfect bowler for South African conditions: AB de Villiers

Former cricketer AB de Villiers believes that Jasprit Bumrah can prove to be extremely dangerous in the upcoming India tour to South Africa. He called him the leader of the pack and stated that the conditions would suit the Indian pacer and expects him to keep the batters busy in the Test series.

Notably, Bumrah is set to play his first Test in almost 18 months. Due to a back injury, he missed multiple Test series, including the one against Australia and the World Test Championship finale. After a long rehab, he made his return to white-ball cricket and played an important part in India’s triumph in the Asia Cup and then in the ODI World Cup 2023.

Meanwhile, De Villiers reminded that Bumrah has a tremendous record in South Africa and he expects him and the entire Indian bowling unit to be a massive threat for the home team.

“Bumrah is definitely the leader of the pack. He's a guy that keeps coming at you. Never stops. He's got all the skills. He kept us very busy in the last series we played in South Africa.

“He's the perfect bowler for those conditions, angling it into the stumps and then just moving it either way from there. He's a handful, and, he's gonna keep the South African batters busy. The whole of the Indian bowling attack is the biggest threat for South Africa,” the 39-year-old said while talking to India Today.

There were other surprises as well in India’s Test squad for the South Africa series. Ajinkya Rahane, who was named the vice-captain for the WTC final against Australia has been dropped along with veteran cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara. Sarfaraz Khan, who was in the reckoning for a long time now, has not made it to the squad yet again while Srikar Bharat too failed to make it.

The returning KL Rahul has been named as the wicketkeeper alongside Ishan Kishan but the former has very little experience of keeping as far as the red-ball cricket is concerned.