India start their Asia Cup 2025 campaign later in the day, and all indications are that the Men in Blue will play their strongest available XI. And that means the highly anticipated return of Jasprit Bumrah, whose comeback occurs amidst fiery debates regarding workload management.
The fitness of Bumrah has been under scrutiny for some time. He missed the Lord’s and The Oval Tests in the England Test series in the first half of the year under rest-and-recovery plans. His last white-ball game for India was at the T20 World Cup, and he has since been out of action with a stress fracture picked on the tour of Australia one that kept him away from the Champions Trophy, which India then won.
With the T20 World Cup merely five months away, Asia Cup is the ideal stage for India to try out combinations and determine their core team. However, how the management approaches Bumrah’s workload is still the most important thing about the build-up, considering the jam-packed schedule of ODIs, Tests and T20Is lined up in advance.
All that being said, the chance of Bumrah playing today’s opener against UAE hasn’t been liked by former India batsman Ajay Jadeja. He feels that playing the ace pacer against relatively weaker rivals is not required and has gone to the extent of humourously threatening that he would “go on strike” if coach Gautam Gambhir and skipper Suryakumar Yadav play Bumrah tonight in the Playing XI.
“What is the need to play Bumrah tomorrow, man? Usually, you keep him wrapped in cotton wool. Ab UAE ke against bhi tumhe Bumrah chahiye? (Now you need Bumrah even against the UAE?) Either don’t protect him at all, or if you need to preserve him, then do it in this type of match. Logic dictates that, but we never do things with logic,” Ajay Jadeja said on Sony Sports Network.
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“The match is against the UAE. No disrespect because I have seen their captain, [Muhammad] Wasim, and the talent he possesses. You cannot rank any team, but this is a T20 World Cup-winning Team India. Hence, I am clear. If Bumrah plays tomorrow, I am going on strike.”
