How many wickets Jasprit Bumrah is away to join 100 wickets club in T20Is?

New Delhi [India], September 7 (ANI): Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who has returned to the T20I set-up for the Asia Cup, is just 11 wickets away from entering the 100-wicket club in the shortest format for India.

Bumrah's return serves as a massive boost for the 'Men in Blue' ahead of the Asia Cup. Despite his fitness issues during the fourth Test against England and him missing out the fifth Test at The Oval, 'Jassi Bhai' will be India's most prized asset in the shortest format, where the workload would be much kinder to him, especially with availability of extremely potent spinners and pace attack of a powerhouse Arshdeep Singh (99 wickets, India's leading T20I wicket-taker) and a young, promising fast bowler in Harshit Rana.

In 70 T20Is for India, Bumrah has taken 89 wickets at an average of 17.74, with best figures of 3/7 and an economy rate of an astonishing 6.27, in an era where power-hitting has gone notches above. He is India's fifth-highest T20I wicket-taker. While he might not be on top of the charts, he is an ultimate pressure builder and helps his fellow pacers and spinners get wickets as batters take more risks against them.

The last time Bumrah wore India's blue colours, it was an incredible sight for all fans to witness as he stood with the T20 World Cup trophy and the 'Player of the Tournament' title to show for last year, taking two crucial wickets in the final and unleashing a brilliant pace choke on South African batters, who fell seven runs short of India's 177 run target. Bumrah was India's second-highest wicket-taker and overall as well, with 15 scalps in eight matches at an average of 8.26 and an economy rate of 4.17, with best figures of 3/7 against arch-rivals Pakistan.

Even this year, when Bumrah was gearing up for an international return for the England series following a stress fracture during the Border-Gavaskar-Trophy's final Test, the pacer used the Indian Premier League (IPL) to build up his workload, taking 18 wickets in 12 matches at an average of 17.55, with best figures of 4/22 and ended up as seventh on wicket-takers charts.

Bumrah has played one T20I Asia Cup, back in 2016, taking six wickets in five matches at an average of above 15, with best figures of 2/27 in a winning campaign.

India will kick off their campaign against the UAE on September 10, while the high-voltage game against Pakistan is scheduled for September 14, with both fixtures set to be played in Dubai. India will play their final group stage fixture against Oman on September 19 in Abu Dhabi.

After the group stage, the tournament will proceed to the Super 4, where the top two teams from each group will qualify. If India finishes at the top of Group A, then all of their Super 4 matches will be held in Dubai. If India finishes second, then one of their Super 4 clashes will be held in Abu Dhabi and the remaining two in Dubai. The Super 4 stage will run from September 20 to 26. Dubai will host the final, which is scheduled for September 28.

Team India squad for Asia Cup: Surya Kumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (WK), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh

Reserve players: Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal. (ANI)

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