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Follow UsMohammed Siraj made his T20I debut for India in November 2017. It’s been more than six and a half years and the right-arm seamer has featured in only 13 T20Is so far. That’s two T20Is per year. The Men in Blue have played 143 T20Is, including three World Cups, in this period.
In fact, Siraj has never played more than four T20Is in a single calendar year. The 30-year-old has become a crucial part of India’s bowling unit in the other two formats since 2021, which has played some part in Siraj focusing less on the 20-over format. However, that’s not the real reason why Siraj has fallen far behind Arshdeep Singh in the pecking order.
Now, no matter what the format, Jasprit Bumrah is 'always' going to be the first name on the list. Then there is Hardik Pandya, who can easily play the role of a third seamer in the 20-over format, something that he did in the West Indies leg of the 2024 T20 World Cup.
India played their group-stage games in the USA, where the conditions were more favourable to the fast bowlers. The team management decided to leave out Kuldeep Yadav and went with three frontline seamers - Bumrah, Arshdeep and Siraj - with Pandya as the fourth pacer. But everyone knew Kuldeep would walk into the XI once India moved to the West Indies.
Therefore, the battle for the second seamer spot was between Arshdeep and Siraj.
So, the group stage was a straight face-off between them. But all Siraj could do was pick up a solitary wicket as he watched Arshdeep blowing opponents away with seven wickets at a strike rate of 10.3.
Siraj operated at a better economy (5.2 vs 6.3), but it was pretty obvious by the end of the group stage that he would be the one making way for Kuldeep in the West Indies. India went on to lift the trophy, with Arshdeep emerging as the joint-highest wicket-taker. Meanwhile, Siraj didn’t play a single game after the first round.
If truth be told, there was a high possibility that Siraj wouldn’t even have featured in India’s T20WC squad if Mohammed Shami was fit.
The 2026 T20 World Cup is in India, and in all likelihood, the Men in Blue are going to stick to the same bowling combination - two frontline seamers, a fast-bowling all-rounder in Pandya (subject to fitness), a wrist spinner and two spin-bowling all-rounders - in Indian conditions.
If fit, Bumrah is a lock-in, but Siraj will have to be extremely consistent over the next two years if he wants to make that second pacer spot his own. So, let’s look at how Siraj can achieve that and go past the likes of Arshdeep and others in the pecking order.
First, let’s look at Arshdeep's role in India’s fully fit bowling unit. All we have to do is look back at the 2024 T20WC. The left-arm paceman bowled more than 86 percent of his total overs in the powerplay and death overs. And that’s exactly where Siraj will have to better Arshdeep if he wants to be considered above him.
Bumrah will always be India’s trump card, and the skipper will use him depending on match scenarios, mostly in the powerplay and death overs. Axar Patel, Washington Sundar or any other finger spinner will chip in the powerplay depending on match-ups.
The finger spinners will still bowl the majority of their overs in the middle phase alongside Kuldeep Yadav/Ravi Bishnoi and Pandya. Bumrah and the other seamer will then be expected to bowl at least three to four of the last five overs. Arshdeep has been doing that really well for India, plus he has the advantage of being a left-armer.
Now while Siraj can't change his style of bowling, what he will have to do is challenge him for that spot.
Arshdeep has also played a lot more T20 cricket than Siraj in the last two-three years. Since 2023, the former has featured in 68 T20s, which is more than double of Siraj’s 33. What’s more, India are scheduled to play a lot of Test cricket in the coming months, and with the next ICC event being a Champions Trophy (ODI format), Siraj could once again take his focus off the 20-over format. And that might not work in his favour.
Talking about things not working in his favour, Siraj operated at an average of 53 and an economy rate of 9.5 in the powerplay in the Indian Premier League 2024. Arshdeep (34 average, 8.8 economy) wasn’t great either but showed a lot more control than Siraj. In the death overs, Siraj had a much better economy (8.6 vs 12.1) but once again didn’t pick wickets (average 27.6 vs 19.8).
Siraj had a good IPL 2023 (19 wickets @ 19.7), but apart from that, the right-armer has struggled to pick wickets in this format. In 52 T20s since 2022, Siraj has an average of 30.6, which goes up to 38.3 in the first six overs. Siraj has almost been at par with Arshdeep in the IPL, but the latter transforms into a different beast while playing for India.
Ever since his T20I debut in July 2022, no other bowler has taken more wickets than Arshdeep (79 wickets in 52 games @ 19.1). If you look at the above table, Siraj has been slightly more economical than Arshdeep in a couple of phases, but the latter has turned out to be a far more attacking option for India, which is exactly what they need, considering Bumrah, Pandya and Axar are great at defensive bowling.
20 wickets in 10 games at an economy of 7.2 - Arshdeep has been even more phenomenal for India in 2024, so Siraj will have his task cut out in the next two years. Not just Arshdeep, Siraj will also have to compete with the likes of Shami, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshit Rana, Mohsin Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Mayank Yadav and many other seamers who have been doing well in domestic cricket and the IPL.
As of now, the odds are not in Siraj’s favour, and if he wants to turn that around, the 30-year-old will have to step up big time, starting with the three T20Is in Sri Lanka.
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