Asia Cup: Jasprit Bumrah not included in India squad; Here's Why

India fast bowler Jasprit BumrahJasprit Bumrah was not included in the Asia Cup squad due to an injury. The Indian team announced its 15-man squad on Monday.

It is believed that Bumrah's injury will take time to heal and the pacer will not regain full fitness in time for the Asia Cup.

The 15th edition of the Asia Cup is scheduled to begin on Aug. 27 in Dubai and the six-team tournament will go on till Sept. 11. The teams were divided in two groups with India in Group A, along with arch-rivals Pakistan. The two said sides will come face to face on Aug. 28 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

"Jasprit Bumrah has a back injury and will not play in the Asia Cup. He is our main bowler and we would like him to be back in action before T20 World Cup. WE can't risk him in Asia Cup and the injury could aggravate," a senior BCCI official had told PTI before the squad announcement.

Apart from Bumrah, another pacer Harshal Patel missed out on the Asia Cup due to an injury. The two players are currently undergoing rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru, according to an official release from the BCCI.

After the three-match ODI series in England, Bumrah was rested for India's white-ball tour of West Indies and also the ODI series against Zimbabwe. India included Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, and Arshdeep Singh in their pace attack for Asia Cup, but the Men in Blue will certainly miss Bumrah's services.

India will hope Bumrah to recover soon and have enough time to play matches to get back to his groove ahead of the T20 World Cup, which is due to take place in Oct-Nov in Australia.

Bumrah has picked up 69 wickets in 58 T20Is appearances for India.

Meanwhile, the likes of KL Rahul and Virat Kohli returned to the squad. Rahul has not played cricket in the last few months due to a sports hernia surgery and covid-19, while Kohli was rested from India's recent tour of the Caribbean and the upcoming series in Zimbabwe.

Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan, who are India's top two leading run-scorer in the T20Is this year, did not find a place in the Asia Cup squad. Iyer has scored 449 runs in 14 T20Is, while Ishan has 430 runs to his name in 14 T20Is. Iyer, however, was named in India's reserves for the Asia Cup, along with Deepak Chahar and Axar Patel.

India's 15-man squad for Asia Cup: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan.