'Bumrah, Harshal not playing Asia Cup is relief to other teams': Irfan Pathan fires back at Waqar Younis

Irfan Pathan said on Sunday that pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel not playing in Asia Cup 2022 will be a matter of relief for other teams. The star pacer of India Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel were not available for selection in Asia Cup 2022 owing to injuries. They are currently undergoing rehab at the NCA in Bengaluru. "It is a relief for other teams that Bumrah and Harshal aren't playing this Asia cup!," tweeted Pathan.

Notably, Harshal Patel is India's second highest wicket-taker in T20I cricket this year with 19 scalps, with veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar at the top with 20 wickets. Bumrah has only played three T20Is this year, across which he has taken three wickets. This tweet comes after a tweet by legendary Pakistan bowler Waqar Younis, who had said in a tweet that star Pakistani pacer Shaheen Afridi's injury will be a relief for the Indian top-order. "Shaheen's injury Big relief for the Indian top order batsmen. Sad we won't be seeing him in #AsiaCup2022 Get fit soon Champ @iShaheenAfridi," he tweeted on Saturday.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced on Saturday that star pacer Shaheen Afridi has been ruled out of the upcoming Asia Cup 2022 due to a knee injury. Shaheen Afridi tamed the explosive Team India top order in his side's last encounter with Men in Blue during the ICC T20 World Cup last year. He had reduced India to 6/2 after claiming two-early wickets of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul. He also took the wicket of Virat Kohli (57) in the 19th over. His spell of 3/31 played a huge role in restricting India to 151/7 in 20 overs. Pakistan chased down 152 easily without losing any wickets with Babar Azam (68*) and Mohammed Rizwan (79*) staying unbeaten. Shaheen has featured in only one T20I match this