While batting star Yashasvi Jaiswal received his first ODI call-up from Indian selectors under the leadership of Ajit Agarkar, veteran pacer Siraj was passed over because of his lack of ability with the older ball.
Mohammed Siraj was left out of India’s Champions Trophy lineup on Saturday due to their emphasis on spin and reservations about his ability to play with the old ball. India revealed their 15-man roster for the eight-team competition, which will begin on February 19 and feature all of the team’s games in Dubai under Rohit Sharma.
Ajit Agarkar’s Indian selectors excluded veteran pacer Siraj because they believed he lacked skills with the older ball, but batting star Yashasvi Jaiswal received his first ODI call-up.India decided to continue with the four-spinners configuration, which includes Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Washington Sundar, because the conditions in Dubai aren’t expected to favor fast bowlers as much as they did in the Caribbean leg of the T20 World Cup last year.
In order to have alternatives for both bowling with the new ball and bowling at the back end, we wanted to choose a team. “Obviously, we’re not sure with (Jasprit) Bumrah missing,” Rohit stated at the Wankhede Stadium following the announcement of the team for the Champions Trophy, three ODI matches against England, and five Twenty20 Internationals.In the last match on February 12 in Ahmedabad, Bumrah is anticipated to make a comeback after missing the first two ODIs against England. For the first two ODIs at Nagpur and Cuttack, Harshit Rana has been selected to replace Bumrah.
Siraj was a part of their campaigns in the last two ICC limited-overs cricket competitions, thus Rohit acknowledged that his absence made the team appear a little inexperienced. However, he gave the justification for his exclusion.
“Obviously, we saw what (Mohammed) Shami did with the new ball, and that’s where we feel that Siraj’s effectiveness comes down — if he’s not going to take the new ball,” Rohit said, adding that they wanted Arshdeep Singh to come and perform that job of bowling at the back end.
We had a lengthy discussion about it, and since we wanted all of the all-rounders to be available, we are only sending three seamers there. Although it is regrettable that Siraj must miss out, we were forced to select players who could fill a certain function, the Indian captain continued.
According to Rohit, India has all bases covered with the trio of pacers selected for the forthcoming assignments. You must cover all three aspects of the game because, in my opinion, we have players who can bowl with the new ball, be good in the middle, and then be effective at the back end. I believe we can accomplish that with these three lads,” he said.
