South African batting legend AB de Villiers has named Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah among the three toughest bowlers he faced in his career.
De Villiers dominated both white and red-ball cricket at the international level for South Africa for more than a decade, while he is also regarded by many as being among the greatest overseas players in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after an illustrious career with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
He played 114 Tests, scoring 8765 runs with 22 centuries, and then in 228 ODIs, he made 9577 runs with 25 centuries to his name. He also made 1672 runs in 78 T20Is with 10 fifties to his name. He still holds the record for the fastest fifty, hundred, and 150 in ODI cricket.
Apart from this, he played in the IPL as well for Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore, scoring 5162 runs in 184 matches with an average of 39.71. He retired from the IPL after the 2021 edition of the tournament citing lack of drive to play cricket anymore.
Recently, in a chat with Robin Uthappa on JioCinema, he listed the three toughest bowlers he faced including two wrist spinners. The first name he picked was that of the late great Shane Warne of Australia.
"I think Shane Warne in 2006 the first time I traveled to Australia, not so much because of skill and technique as just the presence of the man and the aura he carried. And obviously, I was quite inexperienced. I knew from the get-go that he was going to get out.
That game felt easy, but he was just a smart, incredible player, and it worked out pretty quickly. That’s my technique. It’s not quite spot-on when it comes to playing straight. So, he was going slow, slow, slider straight. And I missed the straight one and not long after that, that was my weakness for 2005, 06, and 07 I would miss straight balls, especially angling a bit back," De Villiers said.
"I would fall over, touch with my head. My back lift was a little bit beyond my back. And I had to pay for the juice. I mean I had to go back to the drawing board to figure out my technique, but he was a man who could figure out little things like that and understand there’s something not right with this guy’s bat lift. Let’s go straight and just sided it in there and ultimately I missed one," he added.
The next bowler in line was Rashid Khan from Afghanistan, whom De Villiers faced during the fag end of his career in IPL.
"Rashid Khan, tough to pick at night once again. Got him a few times, and he would always come back. Always in your face. He hit him with three sixes, as he was trying to get me out the next ball. And those are the kind of bowlers I always found difficult to face and always had a lot of respect for," he said.
On the other hand, the only pacer picked by AB de Villiers was India‘s Jasprit Bumrah. He stated that the Indian pacer is someone who is very competitive and never backs down.
"Bumrah was always very challenging because he was so competitive, he would never back down, is always in your face so I’ve got a lot of respect for him and the way he plays his cricket. I got a hold of him even a few times. He came back at me and got a hold of me a few times and I love that competitiveness,” De Villiers signed off.
