Cricketer-turned-expert Ajay Jadeja stated there is no need for Team India's pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah in the playing XI ahead of the team's opening fixture on Wednesday, September 10, in the ongoing Asia Cup 2025 event. Notably, the management has been pretty vocal about the fast bowler's workload, as he played just three out of the five Tests against England in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.
Bumrah is set to return in T20Is after last playing in the final of the T20 World Cup 2024 on June 30 against South Africa. Since then, the veteran pacer has largely focused on playing Test and ODI cricket. However, with the T20 World Cup less than seven months away, head coach Gautam Gambhir wants his premier pacer to be in the groove. For the unversed, the 31-year-old suffered with a minor niggle towards the end of the England tour, and he subsequently missed the fifth and final Test.
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However, now he is back and raring to go. But Jadeja said that if India is serious about Bumrah's workload, they should not play him against minnows.
"What is the need to play Bumrah tomorrow, man? Usually, you keep him wrapped in cotton wool. Now you need him even against the UAE? Either don't protect him at all, or if you need to preserve him, then do it in this type of match. Logic dictates that, but we never do things with logic. I will go on strike if Bumrah plays," Ajay Jadeja said on Sony Sports Network.
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Irfan Pathan opposes Jadeja's statement, says if selected, Bumrah should play all games
Former India cricketer Irfan Pathan had a very different take on Jadeja's. He feels that if Bumrah is selected for the Continental Cup, then he should play all the matches.
"You need to protect Bumrah, I understand. But what my opinion is, and I have said this during the England tour as well, is that if you have come to play a series, then you have to play it completely. You have not come into a series for recovery or management, you have come to play," Irfan Pathan opined.
Notably, this is the second time Bumrah will play in the T20 edition of the Asia Cup after playing way back in 2016, when the T20 model was implemented in the Continental Cup ahead of that edition's T20 World Cup 2016. The pacer missed playing the Asia Cup T20 edition in 2022 due to injury. India begins their campaign against hosts UAE on September 10 at the Dubai International Stadium.
