NEWS
Follow UsIndia have decided to field a pretty inexperienced pace bowling attack for the three-match ODI series against West Indies, starting July 27 in Bridgetown. With Mohammed Shami already rested and Jasprit Bumrah still nursing a severe back injury, Mohammed Siraj was expected to lead the bowling attack, but the decision has been taken to keep him fresh for important assignments in the coming days.
The right-arm pacer has a sore ankle and as a precautionary measure has been advised to rest by the BCCI medical team. The team has not called for a replacement player.
The Hyderabad pacer has flown back to India alongside Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat, and Navdeep Saini right after the Test series win against West Indies. Hence, it is expected that Jaydev Unadkat, Shardul Thakur, Mukesh Kumar, and Umran Malik will form India’s pace attack alongside all-rounder Hardik Pandya.
The decision has been taken, keeping an eye on his workload management ahead of the World Cup in October and November. India will compete in the Asia Cup between August and September before partaking in a three-game home series against Australia in September.
Siraj is not a part of India’s T20I squad for the series against West Indies, and this break will now allow him a one-month break prior to the start of the Asia Cup. The last time Siraj played a 50-Over match was against Australia in March and since then, he has been terrific in almost every match across formats. After securing 19 wickets for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, he picked up five wickets against Australia in the World Test Championship final at The Oval and another seven wickets against West Indies in the Test series.
