"Nice to have him back, we’ll ease him into it slowly": Rahul Dravid on Jasprit Bumrah's return

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], August 29 (ANI): India head coach Rahul Dravid is thrilled to have a near full-strength team at his disposal heading into ICC World Cup 2023 as star pacer Jasprit Bumrah will make a comeback to ODI cricket after a gap of more than one year.
After a very long time, India will travel to Sri Lanka for the Asia Cup in 2023 with a nearly full-strength squad at their disposal. They have recently been plagued by injuries that have affected their World Cup training, but the majority of the important players have recovered in time.
KL Rahul's recovery will take an extra week, but India is happy to welcome back batter Shreyas Iyer, veteran pacer Bumrah, and bowler Prasidh Krishna to ODI cricket after a protracted layoff. After making their comebacks, Bumrah and Krishna put on impressive performances during the Ireland T20I series.
Rahul Dravid expressed his happiness at the return of the entire team, but he also said the group would handle Bumrah's reintegration with caution.
"Yeah, so it’s great to have them back and see them bowling, and bowling well, is truly good. Jasprit is someone we’ve missed a lot over the last two years. I must say he’s not played a lot of games. But it’s nice to have him back and we’ll ease him into it, slowly," Dravid said in a press conference. 
"It was nice for him to get those 4 overs sort of, like the tour of Ireland, for both of them to ease in with sort of some four overs of bowling. And then now gives us a chance in the Asia Cup to build that up and pick that up and we have a whole month now to build that up before the World Cup as well," he added. 
"So, yes, it does gives us more options in the pace-bowling department. It gives us an opportunity to have more resources, especially in a long tournament like a World Cup," the India head coach said. 
India's participation in the Asia Cup is ideal as they get ready for the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup in October.
Given that the host nation has won the 50-over competition's last three editions, including India in 2011, there will be pressure to perform well in front of the home audience during the World Cup.
Dravid showed confidence in the team's readiness during his maiden tenure as head coach at the senior men's World Cup and predicted a competitive campaign.
"Yeah, there’s going to be a certain amount of pressure associated with it, which is most welcome and, which I think we all expect," Dravid said. "But also to be able to play in front of your own home crowds, your own fans, is going to be very special for everyone and we hope we can have a really good tournament.
"I think we’ve prepared, we’re preparing really well, we’re building up really nicely. It’s all hopefully coming together nicely with some of the guys coming back from injury just at the right time for us and hopefully, we can give them a few games and set it up really well.
Commencing on October 5, the World Cup starts with a rematch of the 2019 Final, featuring defending champions England taking on New Zealand. India's campaign begins on 8 October against Australia in Chennai, followed by a highly-anticipated match against Pakistan on 14 October in Ahmedabad. (ANI)