Pakistan Cricketer’s Fitting Reply to Reporter’s ‘Jasprit Bumrah’ Question Ahead of Asia Cup

Lahore: Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah is making a comeback to the side in the T20Is versus Ireland. While the spotlight would be on him to see how fit he is, Pakistan cricketer Abdullah Shafique was asked by a reporter recently about the ‘Bumrah’ threat at the Asia Cup. To that, Shafique came up with a blunt response where he said Pakistan batters face Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf in the nets.

“You face Haris, Naseem, Shaheen in the nets all the time during practice sessions. Do you find it easy when you take on the opposition bowlers then? Particularly if you talk about India… since it looks like Jasprit Bumrah is also coming back for Asia Cup,” a reporter asked Shafique during a media interaction.

“Our bowling attack is pretty good, in fact, the best in the world. We face them (Shaheen, Haris, Naseem) in the nets… we face their challenging spells. And that gives us a lot of confidence and helps in our preparation. If we are playing good against them, we are obviously more confident against opponent bowlers,” said Shafique.

This is the first time, the Asia Cup will be hosted by multiple countries. While Pakistan will host four games, the remaining nine games are to be played on Lankan soil. India will be playing all their games in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka are the defending champions.

India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Nepal are the six participating teams of Asia Cup 2023 with all the matches to be played in the 50-over format. Nepal, who are making their Asia Cup debut, qualified for the tournament after winning the 2023 ACC Men’s Premier Cup.