Former India batter Sunil Gavaskar said Jasprit Bumrah will not have any problem in playing the entire Asia Cup without India worrying about managing his workload. The Express pacer had come under a lot of flak from critics recently after he was rested in 2 Test matches in India’s recent 5-match tour of England.
“In this Asia Cup, it is just a question of bowling four overs and that too it is not four overs at a stretch…So I don’t think there will be any problem for him to play this tournament. I mean there will be no workload problem for him because he has to bowl only four overs and there can be no problem,” Gavaskar said to a select group of mediapersons during an interaction ahead of the tournament starting September 9 in the UAE.
With Asia Cup to be played in T20I format, Bumrah won’t have to bowl longer spells and the team management can even pick and choose his games. He also got a gap of nearly 40 days between the last Test he played in England and the start of the Asia Cup.
Bumrah’s last T20I appearance was in the 2024 T20 World Cup final against South Africa in Bridgetown that India won by seven runs. He took 2 for 18.
India’s Asia Cup schedule
India are set to be captained by Suryakumar Yadav with Shubman Gill as his deputy in the Asia Cup and will start their campaign against UAE on September 10.
They will then face off with arch-rivals Pakistan in Dubai on September 14 and conclude their group stage commitments with a match against Oman on September 19. India are designated hosts, although the tournament will be played in the venues in UAE. India, Pakistan, UAE and Oman are slotted in Group A while Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Hong Kong are in Group B.
