'It's relief for other teams that Bumrah, Harshal aren’t playing Asia Cup'- Irfan Pathan hits back at Waqar Younis' recent tweet

Pakistan have suffered a huge setback ahead of Asia Cup 2022 with pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi being ruled out of the tournament due to a knee injury. Afridi had accounted for the Indian top-order during their previous clash in the last year’s T20 World Cup as they ended their 29-year World Cup jinx over the arch-rivals.

After Shaheen was ruled out of the multi-nation tournament, former Pakistan pacer Waqar Younis made a statement saying that the Indian top-order should consider themselves lucky. However, the tweet did not go down well with many Indian fans before veteran all-rounder Irfan Pathan came up with a befitting reply.

Irfan Pathan gives a savage reply to Waqar Younis

On Saturday, August 20 Waqar took to his official Twitter handle and posted an image of Shaheen which was from Pakistan’s T20 World Cup 2021 clash against India last year and captioned, “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

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 pic.twitter.com/Fosph7yVHs

— Waqar Younis (@waqyounis99) August 20, 2022

Reacting to the same, Irfan added that other teams should be relieved due to the fact that India’s pace spearheads Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel are not playing. “It’s a relief of other teams that Bumrah and Harshal aren’t playing this Asia cup!”

It’s a relief of other teams that Bumrah and Harshal aren’t playing this Asia cup!

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) August 21, 2022

With both Bumrah and Shaheen not available for Asia Cup 2022, it will be a perfect opportunity for other bowlers to step up and rise to the occasion in the tournament. While India would be hoping that senior pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar works in tandem with the likes of Avesh Khan and Arshdeep Singh, Pakistan would be expected to challenge the Indian top order with Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf at the helm of affairs.

Meanwhile, it remains to be seen whether promising pacer Shahnawaz Dahani would be getting a chance in Shaheen’s absence. Dahani, who has been travelling with the Pakistan team for the last 12 months, has not been able to make an impact on the cricket field at the international level and the Asia Cup could just be a big platform for him to shine with the ball in hand.