India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is set to make his comeback to T20Is in Asia Cup 2025. The 31-year-old, who was recently seen in action during the Men in Blue's fiove-match Test series against England, was picked in the side's 15-member squad for the upcoming continental tournament. Bumrah will be leading India's pace attack in Asia Cup alongside Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana.
There were quite a lot of doubts over Bumrah's fitness before India's squad for Asia Cup was announced. This was due to the fact that the pacer had only featured in three out of five Tests against England in order to properly manage his workload. Bumrah was even accused of picking and choosing his matches by multiple former India cricketers after he didn't participate in the series deciding fifth Test.
However, former England cricketer Monty Panesar feels that the team management is right to not play Bumrah back-to-back Tests as the latter's unorthodox bowling action puts a lot of starin on his body and makes him vulnerable to injuries.
“He (Bumrah) has an unorthodox action, so I think the difficulty for him is if he’s playing back-to-back Test matches, it’ll probably take a lot of strain on his body than someone who has a traditional bowling action," Panesar told India Today.
“So, he probably needs that break, but also, I think T20 is his strongest format. So I think India probably needs him fit and ready for the World Cup, for the Asia Cup. So I think he’s more of a valuable asset in the T20 format than the other formats," he added.
Bumrah last played a T20I in June, 2024
Meanwhile, Bumrah's last appearance in the shortest format came in the 2024 T20 World Cup final where he turned the match around for India with his four-over spell of 2/18. He finished the competition with a total of 15 scalps and was even adjudged as the Player of the Tournament. The 31-year-old will now be looking to help the Men in Blue in recording a record ninth Asia Cup triumph in their history.
On the other hand, India will begin their Asia Cup campaign with the clash against UAE on September 10. They will then be locking horns against arch-rivals on September 14 before concluding their group stage with the match against Oman on September 19.