Former South African batter AB de Villiers has dominated most of the bowlers throughout his career be it for South Africa or the Indian Premier League (IPL). However, Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah was one of those who occasionally dismissed AB of De Villiers. The veteran batter recalled a game that he was a part of against the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium, where Bumrah removed him with an accurate bouncer.

In a video on his YouTube channel, AB de Villiers said: “I was playing for RCB in Wankhede Stadium against Mumbai Indians and got to 70. Just as I was about to get into fifth gear, he (Bumrah) out of nowhere got a bouncer that hit me on my head. I was a little bit off-balanced and did not see that coming, especially at that pace. He always tries to stay one step ahead of the batter and is not afraid of trying things out. He always backs his skills.”

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However, AB de Villiers has seen Jasprit Bumrah grow over the years as well. He had faced the pace bowler when the latter was still young and inexperienced as well.

“We have had some really good run-ins over the years. At the start, there wasn’t much of pace. He was in his 130s and I played him in the Wankhede and was getting him away. But not even a year or two later, I saw a completely different bowler running in. Hitting the mid-140 mark with fire in the belly, making eye contact with me and I knew the challenge was on,” he stated.

AB de Villiers had also opined on veteran Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s performance over the years. The pace bowler had a decent success with the ball as well.

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“Bhuvi is a wonderful bowler, very skillful, keeps the batter on their toes. So if you’re not in control of your technique, Bhuvi is the guy who is going to expose that, which he did with me at Centurion. He was lining me up with a few outswingers and dragging me off. Finally when he bowled one inswinger, my head went this way (fell over) and there were stumps all over the place. Lot of respect for Bhuvi as always. Where I did play a very good knock against Bhuvi was at the Wankhede Stadium in 2016 if I remember (2015). I got one of my favorite ODI hundreds there. It was a must-win game. It was 2-2 against India going into Mumbai and we scored more than 400 and won the game. I remember hitting Bhuvi for a few sixes in that match,” AB de Villiers concluded.