Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj has been ruled out of the West Indies ODI series due to his ankle injury and the Indian cricket team needs to look for an experienced pacer for the ODI series as his replacement.
Mohammed Siraj ruled out of WI ODI series
Mohammed Siraj has rested for the ODI of the West Indies Tour as a safety measure after complaining of a sore ankle. Siraj flew back home with Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat, and Navdeep Saini after the WI Test series victory.
He had picked up seven wickets in the WI Tests, including a five-wicket haul in the first innings on a second Test in the flat surface of Port of Spain triggering a batting collapse for West Indies on the fourth day morning session.
Siraj’s absence in a team makes, Shardul Thakur becomes the experienced seamer in India’s squad taking 50 wickets in 35 matches.
Other seamers like Umran Malik, Jaydev Unadkat, and Mukesh Kumar have a combined 15 ODIs between them. Indian management hasn’t sought a replacement for Siraj as they have Hardik Pandya on the tour.
With a busy schedule leading up to the home ODI World Cup in October, India has the Asia Cup starting from August end to mid-September and a three-match ODI series at home against Australia in September.
Before his WI tour, he was also part of the World Test Championship final at The Oval against Australia picking up five wickets, including a four-for in the first innings.
He finished the series with five wickets, the most for India and second most in the series. Since the start of 2022, Siraj’s 43 wickets are the most by an Indian bowler in ODIs
He also played an important role in the IPL 2023 for Royal Challengers Bangalore, where he scalped 19 wickets in 14 matches taking the most for RCB, who narrowly missed the playoffs. With the absence of Bumrah from the team, Siraj’s service is needed for the Indian team
Even though BCCI revealed last week about Bumrah’s injury update and confirms that Bumrah will take part in practice matches under the supervision of Physio at the National Cricket Academy (NCA Bengaluru). The return of the player within the date remains a question.
“Mohammed Siraj has been released from Team India’s ODI squad ahead of the three-match series against the West Indies” a tweet from BCCI.
“The right-arm Pacer complained of a sore ankle and as a precautionary measure has been advised rest by the BCCI medical team”.
Siraj has played in all ODIs for India against Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and Australia (all three-match series). He also played a key role in India’s 2-1 triumph at the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (Tests) and further took 19 wickets for Royal Challengers Bangalore in 14 Indian Premier League games.
The BCCI has not named any replacement for the pacer who’s been in excellent form in the absence of players like Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami as India takes on West Indies in the first ODI at Kensington Oval in Barbados on July 27, Thursday.
India will also play a three-match bilateral series against Australia after Asia Cup, which will further serve as a better warmup for the home World Cup event.
India Squad Updated
Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Umran Malik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jaydev Unadkat, Mukesh Kumar, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad
