Drafted in at the last moment after injuries and illness hit India’s pace unit, Mohammed Siraj made his return count with a match-settling spell of 3-29 at the Wankhede. Rejoining the T20I setup after 18 months, Siraj struck twice in the Powerplay to calm Indian nerves and remind everyone of his value at T20 World Cup 2026
India pacer Mohammed Siraj in the match vs USA at Wankhede on Saturday. PIC/ATUL KAMBLE
Destiny has a funny way of throwing the best laid plans of men and mice out of kilter. Harshit Rana was just a couple of days away from making his (T20) World Cup debut and Mohammed Siraj was less than a week away from leaving for Spain to watch his beloved Real Madrid in action at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Fate intervened. Rana injured his knee during a practice game against South Africa last Wednesday. It was a bitter blow to the Delhi quick, who was in good wicket-taking form too.
But one man’s misfortune becomes another’s opportunity. Siraj would have preferred a better route to a T20I comeback, but this was beyond his control. Skipper Suryakumar Yadav sent an SOS to ‘miyan’ and Hyderabadi was almost immediately on a flight, arriving in Mumbai less than 30 hours before India’s opener against USA on Saturday.
Siraj reintegrated with the T20I setup after more than 18 months. He was part of the squad that lifted the corresponding World Cup in June 2024 but lingered in T20I wilderness from the end of the tour of Sri Lanka — new head coach Gautam Gambhir’s first assignment — the following month.
Siraj was not a regular in T20Is even before that. Since his T20I debut in November 2017, he had played only 16 games in six-and-a-half years.
At the Wankhede Stadium over the weekend, Siraj registered his second-best T20I numbers, 3-29. His twin strikes in the Powerplay settled Indian nerves greatly after the captain’s heroics hauled them out of a deep hole.
Siraj only played the game because Jasprit Bumrah was unwell. Now, he has lent an entirely new meaning to ‘a problem of plenty.’
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