Mohammed Siraj, a prominent Indian pacer, has been benched for the next ODI series against the West Indies, which will start on July 27. As he returned to India with teammates Ravichandran Ashwin, KS Bharat, Ajinkya Rahane, and Navdeep Saini, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) made the decision to rest the bowler for the 50-over matches in order to control the pacer’s workload.
The four players were interestingly not included in the white-ball leg but were on the red-ball team. All-rounder Hardik Pandya, Jaydev Unadkat, Shardul Thakur, Mukesh Kumar, and Umran Malik were also expected to be part of the pace attack, since senior pro Mohammed Shami was resting for the tour.
Not only for India but also for the other nations competing in the ODI World Cup, the next two months will be extremely important. India will take part in the Asia Cup in August and September following the West Indies tour, and then Australia will visit and play three one-day internationals against India.
Mohammed Siraj ought to have taken a break given the hard schedule that was coming up, but the BCCI has not yet named a substitute.
Due to his exclusion from the T20I team, Mohammed Siraj will now focus on preparations for the important Asia Cup. Siraj played in the two-match Test series against the Caribbean squad, and in the second Test, when he collected a five-wicket haul, he set a bowling record.
Prior to the two Test matches against the West Indies
At The Oval, India and Australia participated in the World Test Championship championship game. He had five wickets total in the match, including a four-wicket haul in the opening innings. After playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL 2023, Mohammed Siraj played in the WTC Final shortly after.
In March 2023, when Australia visited India, Siraj played his final ODI match against them. He had five wickets at the end of the series, making him the Men in Blue’s top wicket-taker.