Mohammed Siraj’s return to the T20I side has been a long time coming, and it arrived when he least expected it. Siraj last played a T20I for India in 2024 against Sri Lanka. Since then, while he has remained a regular feature in Tests and ODIs, the shortest format had moved on without him. On Friday, he joined the Indian squad in Mumbai as a standby after Harshit Rana was ruled out. At that point, it seemed like cover and nothing more.
Less than a day later, circumstances changed. Jasprit Bumrah fell ill. Suddenly, the call came. Siraj was in the XI. On Saturday at the Wankhede Stadium, Siraj made his return to T20 internationals in India’s T20 World Cup opener against the United States of America. It was his first T20I for India in 557 days, and it came on the biggest stage possible. USA captain Monank Patel won the toss and opted to bowl first. “We have Washi missing out, Sanju missing out. Unfortunately Bumrah is not well so Siraj is playing,” Suryakumar said at the toss. India were happy to bat first given the conditions. “We were looking to bat first. Wicket looks good, there is wind around so we don’t expect dew. It’s alive even before the game starts and I am sure it is going to be even better,” he added. For Siraj, the setting made it even more special. A World Cup opener for India. The Wankhede crowd. A chance that arrived not through planning, but through fate. Teams:India: Ishan Kishan (w), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Varun Chakaravarthy.USA: Saiteja Mukkamalla, Andries Gous (wk), Monank Patel (c), Milind Kumar, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Harmeet Singh, Shubham Ranjane, Mohammad Mohsin, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Saurabh Netravalkar, Ali Khan.