Mohammed Siraj has been rested for the ODI leg of the West Indies tour as a precautionary measure after complaining of a sore ankle. Siraj flew back with the rest of the Test contingent – R Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat and Navdeep Saini – after India’s 1-0 series win.
In Siraj’s absence, Shardul Thakur becomes the most experienced seamer in India’s squad, with 50 wickets in 35 matches. The other three seamers – Umran Malik, Jaydev Unadkat and Mukesh Kumar – have a combined 15 ODIs between them. Mukesh is in fact uncapped in the format. India are unlikely to seek a replacement for Siraj as they also have Hardik Pandya in the tour party.
In a busy period leading up to the home ODI World Cup in October, India have the Asia Cup from August end to mid-September and a three-match ODI series at home against Australia in September.
Siraj, who was not part of the T20I squad for the Caribbean tour, picked up seven wickets in the two Tests, including a five-for in the first innings on a flat Port-of-Spain track to trigger a batting collapse for West Indies on the fourth morning.
Prior to this tour, he was also part of the World Test Championship final at The Oval against Australia picking up five wickets, including a four-for in the first innings. He also played a crucial part in the IPL 2023 for Royal Challengers Bangalore, where he scalped 19 wickets in 14 matches, the most for RCB, who narrowly missed the playoffs.
Siraj’s last ODI assignment was against Australia at home in March 2023. He finished the series with five wickets, the most for India and second most in the series. Since the start of 2022, Siraj’s 43 wickets are the most by an India bowler in ODIs.
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