Follow UsMohammed Siraj became the only scapegoat for India’s failure to reach the third straight World Test Championship (WTC) final and back-to-back Test series losses at home and away. He was not named in the 15-member India squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
The reason given by Rohit Sharma for Siraj’s omission from the squad is that he is only effective with the new ball and unable to provide the much-needed cushion to the team and other bowlers at the death.
“We’re not sure about Bumrah, whether he will play or not. So we wanted someone who could bowl up front and at the back. It’s an unfortunate thing he had to miss out. But we had no other option than to select guys appropriate for the designated roles,” Rohit said in the squad announcement press conference on January 18 (Saturday).
Arshdeep Singh, the Punjab quick, who has been in phenomenal form in white-ball cricket, was rewarded for his showing in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and handed a Champions Trophy spot in Siraj’s place. The 25-year-old picked 10 wickets in seven matches and is the leading wicket-taker even as his team was knocked out in the quarterfinals.
Reasoning why Arshdeep was a better call, Rohit said, “Arshdeep hasn’t played ODIs that much but he’s been around the white-ball cricket for quite a while now. So we’re not worried about inexperience. You can’t please everyone. At the end of the day, you pick the team that can win you games."
Although the scope of this is smaller, given the huge gap in the number of matches in both the players’ List-A careers, Arshdeep fares much better than Siraj at the death.
While Siraj averages 38 and strikes at 29.9 in 49 overs he has bowled at the death (41-50) in the 21 matches of his List-A career, Arshdeep has picked four wickets in four games and averages a brilliant 10 while striking at 19, that is almost after every third over. The economy rate of both the players is almost similar, although the Punjab-born edges the Hyderabadi here as well, 7.5 to 7.7.