Speaking about scouting the 30-year-old, Rohit Sharma emphasised how ineffective Siraj’s bowling is when he uses the old ball.
On Saturday, January 18, the Indian team for the 2025 Champions Trophy was revealed. Mohammed Siraj’s name was one that many were surprised to see as missing from the list of 15 members. Siraj participated in both the 2023 World Cup and the 2024 T20 World Cup. However, the right-arm bowler was unable to travel to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) due to his poor performance in white-ball cricket, and Arshdeep Singh was added to the team.
In white-ball cricket, Siraj has been having trouble taking wickets. During his three appearances at the T20 World Cup 2024, he only took one wicket. He played in three ODIs in 2024 but only claimed three wickets.
It’s unclear to us if Bumrah was going to play or not. We therefore believed that we needed someone who could bowl both at the backside and with the new ball. Arshdeep was chosen to bowl at the backside. We all seen Shami’s abilities with the new ball. “When Siraj isn’t bowling with the new ball, his effectiveness decreases,” Rohit stated during the news conference.
The fact that he must miss it is regrettable. However, we were unable to find the men who could fill a particular function. Personally, I think we have people that can bowl at the backend, in the middle, and with the new ball. We believe we can accomplish that with these three bowlers,” he continued.
We had to make the difficult decision: Rohit Sharma
Additionally, promising pacer Harshit Rana was included in the squad as a reserve. Mohammed Shami, an experienced bowler, has also made a long-awaited return with him. It is important to remember that even if the pace quartet—Jasprit Bumrah, Shami, Arshdeep, and Harshith—looks deadly, India will be concerned about Jasprit Bumrah back problem and his inability to be considered totally healthy.
“Shami is a white-ball cricket mainstay. We needed something distinctive, Harshit. He has demonstrated his talent. We must thus support him. However, have a look at Jaiswal; we chose him based on his performance during the previous six to eight months.We chose him even though he hasn’t played ODIs. However, he has demonstrated promise. We must do that sometimes. We cannot please everyone if we talk about everyone. Yes, it’s a difficult decision, but we had to make it,” Rohit said.
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