Should India play both Arshdeep Singh and Jasprit Bumrah in Asia Cup 2025 Final? Analyzing bowling strength versus team balance.
India have reached yet another final of a multi-national tournament, and rather comfortably. They are yet to be defeated, and barring the game against Sri Lanka, they didn’t break a sweat to qualify for the Asia Cup 2025 final, where they will face Pakistan in a first-time-ever summit clash.
If we closely look at the game where India was made to work for a win, their bowling attack didn’t click. Another striking factor in this game was that Bumrah didn’t play, and India clearly missed his services. So it is necessary that India field their strongest playing XI possible, if they are to defeat Pakistan for the third time in this Asia Cup.
To make the bowling attack strong, India need to include both Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh in the playing XI. After all, Arshdeep is the only India bowler to scalp 100 T20I wickets, while Bumrah (94) is the fourth-highest wicket-taker for India in the format.
But for some strange reason, the Suryakumar Yadav-led side have till now decided not to play two of the most successful bowlers for India in this format together throughout this Asia Cup. In the games where Bumrah took a rest, Hardik Pandya took the new ball with the left-arm pacer, and vice versa when Arshdeep is not playing.
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India need Arshdeep-Bumrah duo in Asia Cup final
To support this, let us look at some of the statistics involving both these players in the shortest format.
Bowling records when both Arshdeep and Bumrah are in the same T20I game
| Player | Innings | Wickets | Average | Eco |
| Jasprit Bumrah | 10 | 19 | 8.57 | 4.32 |
| Arshdeep Singh | 10 | 19 | 14.68 | 7.34 |
In 10 T20Is, both Arshdeep and Bumrah have worked well as a pair. This includes the eight games they played in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, which India won. In these games, all of which India won, they picked 32 wickets between them at an average of 10.59. As a pair, they were phenomenal and one of the reasons why India remained unbeaten throughout the tourney.
For instance, if we take a look at Arshdeep, his economy rate when Bumrah is playing is 7.34, opposed to 8.37 when he is not there. In this way, they both complement each other, and together, the duo has proved to be great partners in crime.
But in the ongoing Asia Cup, India haven’t featured together in any of the games. While Bumrah has played four matches, Arshdeep played in just the two games, and both were inconsequential games. One thing was common in both games that the left-arm pacer played in the absence of Bumrah; he wasn’t effective with the new ball.
Arshdeep not only couldn’t pick a single wicket in the four overs in the powerplays across both games, but was also on the expensive side.
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How can they accommodate both of them in playing XI?
In the last Super Four game against Sri Lanka, India rested Shivam Dube and Jasprit Bumrah, while adding Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana in their place. This meant the Men in Blue had an extra specialist bowling option, and this in a way helped them.
The other fact is that Shivam Dube has not made a significant contribution with the bat, and they didn’t require him as well. To be honest, India can afford to go a batter less and strengthen their bowling attack further. So, a possible option could be continuing with Arshdeep in place of Shivam Dube.
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