IND vs PAK: We Have Missed Jasprit Bumrah A Lot In The Past Two Years: Rahul Dravid

All eyes will be on Jasprit Bumrah in the upcoming Asia Cup 2023. The India pace spearhead is all set to make his much-awaited return to ODI cricket in the continental championship. After being on the sidelines for almost a year, the right-arm pacer returned to competitive cricket earlier this month when he played in the T20I series against Ireland.

And after making an impressive return to competitive cricket, he was named in India’s ODI squad for the Asia Cup. Jasprit Bumrah has not played an ODI match since July last year and the cricketing fraternity is eagerly waiting for his return in the 50-over format.

However, India head coach Rahul Dravid has made it clear that the pace spearhead would not be given too much responsibility in his comeback assignment ahead of the all-important World Cup. Before leaving for Sri Lanka, Dravid said that the team will ease Jasprit Bumrah slowly into full action.

“It’s great to have them (Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna) back and see them bowling well. Jasprit is someone we have missed a lot in the past two years he hasn’t played much. We will ease him into it slowly,” said Dravid.

“Ireland was a good opportunity to ease him in. Now we have a whole month to build that up before the World Cup. The duo’s return gives us more options in the pace bowling department,” he added.

Rahul Dravid on home advantage:

Rahul Dravid was also asked whether the conditions in Sri Lanka would favor Team India. In reply, the head coach said that the home advantage for the sub-continent teams has reduced significantly in the last decade and predicted a competitive tournament.

“The whole thing of home advantage at sub-continent has reduced to a large extent over the past 10-12 years. People come and play here so much, especially tournaments like the IPL. They are here for two-three months getting used to conditions. It will be a tight tournament,” Dravid said.

Asia Cup 2023 will get underway on August 30 with the game between Pakistan and Nepal. India will open their campaign on Saturday (September 2) with a mouth-watering clash against Pakistan in Pallekele.

India squad for Asia Cup: Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (vc), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumraj, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Sanju Samson (traveling reserve).