The Asia Cup 2022 is set to begin in just under a week’s time and all the participating teams would be hoping to showcase memorable performances in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to be crowned the champions of the continent. This year’s Asia Cup will be played in the T20 format as a dress rehearsal for the T20 World Cup down under in October-November. Meanwhile, this will be the second time that the tournament will be played in the shortest format after 2016. India are the defending champions.
As all the teams across the continent get set to battle for glory, there are a few seasoned players who will be missing the tournament due to some reason or the other. While a couple of them have suffered injuries, others have been omitted by their respective national selectors. Their exclusion does leave the teams in a spot of bother as far as both frontlines, as well as reserves, are concerned. Without further ado, here’s a look at five of them.
5 Big players who are missing Asia Cup 2022:
1. Jasprit Bumrah
This is indeed a huge setback for the Indian team. Jasprit Bumrah who was an integral part of India’s Asia Cup triumph in 2018 has been ruled out of the tournament due to a back injury. Bumrah who had taken a six-wicket haul in England was given a break for the limited-overs series against the West Indies and it was supposedly during that break he must have suffered an injury.
Jasprit’s injury dealt a huge blow to India after medium-pacer Harshal Patel was already ruled out of the competition due to a rib injury that he had suffered in the Caribbean.
All eyes will now be on the young pacers including the likes of Arshdeep Singh and Avesj Khan as they get set to play their first major tournament. With Mohammed Shami’s absence, the onus will be on senior pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar to take care of the Indian pace attack.
2. Shaheen Afridi
Just like India, arch-rivals Pakistan also suffered a huge setback just over a week ahead of the commencement of the Asia Cup 2022 as their ace speedster Shaheen Afridi was ruled out due to a knee injury. Shaheen was rested for Pakistan’s just-concluded ODI series against the Netherlands, but he had played non-stop cricket in the last few months including the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and the County Championship 2022.
Playing the game without a breather in between eventually took its toll on the tall fast bowler and the Men in Green will dearly miss his services in the continental tournament.
Nonetheless, his absence could turn out to be a blessing in disguise for some of the emerging pacers like Shahnawaz Dahani, but it might be difficult for Pakistan to find someone who can do early damage with the new ball. In Shaheen Afridi’s unavailability, the onus will be on Haris Rauf to take care of the Pakistani pace attack.
3. Hasan Ali
Apart from Shaheen Afridi, another thing that might worry Pakistan could be seasoned pacer Hasan Ali’s non-inclusion for Asia Cup. 2022. Ever since his Player of the Tournament-winning performance in the 2017 Champions Trophy, Hasan has been inconsistent with the ball in hand and has been in and out of the Pakistan team in the last five years.
Meanwhile, it has been reported that Pakistan have a few options to choose a replacement for an injured Shaheen Afridi and Hasan Ali is one of the candidates along with Mir Hamza. However, Ali has been out of form since last year’s T20 World Cup in the UAE where Pakistan had made the semis, and with selectors already not naming him in the 15-member squad for the upcoming tournament, it is highly unlikely that he might get another chance.
Hasan Ali had played the 2018 edition of the tournament but was ineffective as he went wicketless in Pakistan’s both games against arch-rivals India where the Men in Green tasted humiliating defeats.
4. Sanju Samson
Sanju Samson might have made his international debut in 2015, but he has been in and out of the Indian team since then due to inconsistent performances and cut-throat competition. However, Samson has been playing for India regularly since the Ireland series in the shortest format and had showcased consistent performances in that series and the away T20Is against the West Indies.
Despite putting in his best efforts, the Kerala wicketkeeper-batter was excluded from Asia Cup 2022 as the selectors decided to stick to two wicketkeepers Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik. Meanwhile, the setback does not seem to have affected Samson too much as he played a finisher’s role to perfection in the second ODI against Zimbabwe a couple of days ago.
The promising cricketer would now be hoping to make the most of whatever opportunities he gets so that he can be on the selectors as well as the team management’s radar for the T20 World Cup in Australia later this month.
5. Mohammed Shami
If Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel’s injury setbacks were not enough for the Indian team, they have another reason to worry about and that is senior pacer Mohammed Shami’s exclusion from Asia Cup 2022. Shami who had been a part of the Men in Blue’s 2021 T20 World Cup squad in the UAE did not get a chance to feature in the continental tournament.
Shami’s exclusion invited many criticisms and also raised plenty of questions regarding whether the seasoned speedster is indeed in the scheme of things for the T20 World Cup. The frontline pacer has been consistent in the IPL and finished with 20 scalps to his name in the 16 matches that he played for the victorious Gujarat Titans this season at an economy of eight.
Even though Shami had a memorable IPL 2022, he has not played a single T20I for India ever since they were crashed out in the Super 12 stages of last year’s T20 World Cup, and thus, the selectors had no second thoughts about excluding him from Asia Cup T20.
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