As all the teams across the continent get set to battle, there are a few seasoned players who will be missing the tournament due to various reasons.
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.
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.
Let's take a look at some of the frontline bowlers who will be missing from the actions during the upcoming Asia cup.
1. Mohammed Shami
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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.
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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.
2. Hasan Mahmud
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The Tigers were dealt a blow last month when experienced batter Litton Das was left out of their squad with a hamstring injury and pacer Hasan Mahmud and wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan Sohan have joined the veteran on the sidelines.
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Hasan is set to be unavailable for up to a month after he hurt his ankle at training last week, while Nurul recently underwent surgery on an injured finger and needs time to rest the affected area.
3. Shaheen Afridi
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Pakistan 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.
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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.
In Shaheen Afridi’s unavailability, the onus will be on Haris Rauf to take care of the Pakistani pace attack.
4. Dushmantha Chameera
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Sri Lanka’s premier bowler, especially in the shortest format, Dushmantha Chameera, has been ruled out of the upcoming Asia Cup 2022, scheduled to begin in United Arab Emirates (UAE) on August 27.
Sri Lanka Cricket informed the development on the micro-blogging website Twitter, mentioning that Chameera will miss the multi-team event due to an injury he sustained on his left leg during a practice session.
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The 30-year-old fast bowler has been replaced by Nuwan Thushara, who had been part of the standby list when the squad was announced.
5. Jasprit Bumrah
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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.
