Asia Cup 2022: Since India’s premier pacers Bumrah and Shami are missing Pakistan must capitalise on the situation – Sarfaraz Nawaz

Former Pakistan cricketer Sarfaraz Nawaz wants the Babar Azam-led team to capitalise and take advantage of the situation against India since premier pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami will be missing the upcoming Asia Cup 2022.

Bumrah has been ruled out with a back injury while Mohammad Shami hasn’t been selected for the Asia Cup. Furthermore, Harshal Patel has been ruled out with a side strain injury.

Ergo, India’s pace attack will be led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar while inexperienced Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan will provide the support to the experienced fast bowler. On the other hand, Shaheen Shah Afridi has been ruled out due to knee injury for Pakistan.

Speaking to Cricket Pakistan, Nawaz said: “Bowlers win matches and since India’s premier pacers Bumrah and Shami are missing out on the clash, Pakistan must fully capitalise on the situation and replicate the same results from last time around.”

Meanwhile, Pakistan is currently taking on Netherlands in the ODI series in which they have taken an impregnable lead of 2-0.

He added: “We were playing against weak teams and haven’t faced tough competitors. We will see how the team will perform in the World Cup.”

On the other hand, India have won eight matches against Pakistan in the Asia Cup while the latter have managed to win five games against the former.

Pakistan won the previous match against India in the T20 World Cup 2021 by 10 wickets as the Men in Green had dominated the contest.

India and Pakistan will take on each other in the Asia Cup on 28th August.

India Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Deepak Hooda, Yuzvendra Chahal.