Indian Pacer Jasprit Bumrah ruled out of the match against Nepal on the 5th match of the Asia Cup 2023 as he returns to Mumbai due to an unknown reason and will likely join the side for Super Four.
Bumrah misses Asia Cup match against Nepal
India is set to face Nepal on September 4, at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. On this occasion, Jasprit Bumrah had already flew back to Mumbai and the reason seems to be unknown. Mohammed Shami will be replacing Bumrah in the squad on September 4.
Bumrah made his comeback to the side for India’s T20I series against Ireland where they won the series 2-0. He led the team towards victory and took four wickets from three matches. He made it to India’s Asia Cup squad but didn’t get to bowl in the IND-PAK clash as rain cancelled Pakistan’s innings at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.
On winning the toss, India chose to bat where Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill opened for India while Shaheen Afridi opened the attack for Pakistan. The Skipper Rohit Sharma failed to create an impression as he was sent out with 11 runs. With Virat Kohli sent out with 4 runs by Shaheen Afridi, India is down to 27/2. After Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill were sent out with 14 and 10 runs respectively.
The Indian team was pathetic as they lost four wickets for 66 runs in the first ball of the 15th over. Ishan Kishan came to the rescue of the team where he scored 82 runs and with Hardik Pandya’s 87 runs India got back into competition. Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya had a partnership score of 138.
Their score is listed as the highest partnership runs for 5th or below in Asia Cup. After the fall of Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya, the other batters were dismissed with low figures.
Shaheen Afridi was impressive as he scalped 4 wickets on 10 overs for 35 runs, while Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf dismissed three batters each. By the 49th over India was all out scoring 266 runs. Due to cancellation, both teams were given one point.
Pakistan has qualified for the Super Four with 3 points and India needs to win the match against Nepal to qualify for the Super Four.
With raining heavily in Colombo, there is a possibility of a change in venues due to which Super Four matches will be shifted to Dambulla or Pallekele.
India’s Super Four Campaign will start on September 10 against arch-rivals Pakistan. Bumrah needs more match experience before making it for the World Cup in India. Before the tournament, India will be playing a three-match ODI series against Australia and two warm-up games.
