Former South African captain AB de Villiers reckons Mohammed Siraj is unlucky to miss out in the T20 World Cup squad. Siraj recently made a return to India’s ODI squad for the three-match ODI series against New Zealand.
However, Siraj last played a T20I in 2024 against Sri Lanka. Siraj hasn’t been in the reckoning for the T20I team and he was not included in India’s squad. In fact, Siraj was part of India’s T20 World Cup-winning team.
Siraj had scalped 16 wickets in 15 IPL 2025 matches but could not make a comeback into the Indian team.
“We see Siraj in the ODI squad, he’s one of the unlucky guys to miss out. But that is once again down to the balance. You’ve got Bumrah and Arshdeep. Harshit can hold the bat as well. So there are your three seamers. I think that is the reason why you went for Harshit because Siraj is only an outright bowler and they do not want to focus too much on seam bowling. The focus is on the spinners. If they get wickets with the seamers upfront, they almost see it as a bonus in a way. So Siraj is unlucky but at least he is in the ODI plans moving forward for the 2027 World Cup,” AB de Villiers said on his YouTube channel.
Meanwhile, India has picked Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, and Jasprit Bumrah as the three fast bowlers. AB said Harshit Rana doesn’t have a lot of experience at the top level but they have a solid bowling line-up.
“The problem with Harshit Rana with the new ball is that he doesn’t have a lot of experience at the international level. But if he can give you a few overs with Bumrah and Arshdeep, there’s enough overs and then Shivam and Hardik can fill up. They also cover all bases with spin and that’s where they will focus on trying to win games,” he said.
In the spin department, India has quality spinners like Varun Chakravarthy, Washington Sundar, and Kuldeep Yadav.
“When Bumrah has a quiet night a Kuldeep comes through and gets you four and vice versa. Then there’s Hardik coming through in the middle and turning the momentum around. Those are the kind of championship teams you want, and India have got all those bases covered,” he added.
India will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against the USA on February 7.
