Mohammed Siraj replaces injured Jasprit Bumrah for SA T20Is

Mohammed Siraj has been confirmed as the replacement for injured Jasprit Bumrah for the last two T20 internationals against South Africa at home. Bumrah suffered a back stress fracture injury and is currently under the supervision of the BCCI medical team. The BCCI sources had earlier noted that Bumrah is unlikely to take part in the T20 World Cup 2022 since his recovery from injury is expected to take four to six months

However, an official confirmation from BCCI on Bumrah being ruled out of T20 World Cup 2022 is awaited. Siraj meanwhile last played a T20I in February 2022 against Sri Lanka and so far in five games, he has picked up five wickets in the format while going for plenty of runs. He had an ordinary IPL 2022 season for the Royal Challengers Bangalore but still is quite potent with the new ball.  

Siraj was part of the Zimbabwe ODI tour recently where he impressed in the first two games with his tight lines and lengths upfront. Interestingly, Siraj made his international debut as a T20I bowler and then went on to become a regular in the longer formats.  

Here’s India’s updated squad for the last two games 

India’s updated squad for South Africa T20Is: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Deepak Chahar, Umesh Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mohd. Siraj 

India have an array of fast bowlers in the group at the moment while Deepak Chahar and Arshdeep Singh bowled an excellent spell of swing bowling in the first T20I. It will be interesting to see if Siraj gets a game in the remainder of the series as India recorded a comfortable eight-wicket win in the opening game and took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.