A few hours before the start of the first ODI against the West Indies, BCCI on Thursday, informed that India's pace spearhead Mohammed Siraj will not be a part of the three-match series and has flown back home. The decision to release Siraj, who was anyway not a part of the T20I squad, was taken as a precautionary measure as the right-arm pacer complained of pain in his ankle.
Siraj flew back home with the other members of the Test squad - Ajinkya Rahane, Navdeep Saini, Ravichandran Ashwin, and KS Bharat - who were not a part of the ODIs.
"Mohd. Siraj has been released from Team India’s ODI squad ahead of the three-match series against the West Indies," a BCCI media release read. "The right-arm pacer has a sore ankle and as a precautionary measure has been advised rest by the BCCI medical team," the release added.
Why was Mohammed Siraj released from India ODI squad?
Siraj was the pick of the Indian seamers in the two-match Test series. He even registered his career-best figures of 5/60 in the second Test. In the absence of Jasprit Bumrah (recovering from an injury) and Mohammed Shami (rested), Siraj was supposed to be India's lead pacer in the West Indies ODIs too but with the kind of workload the Hyderabad cricketer has taken in the last 12 months or so, it only makes sense to give him a breather before the big tournaments.
Since the start of this year, Siraj has played in the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and Australia. He made vital contributions in India's 2-1 triumph at the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia and took 19 wickets for Royal Challengers Bangalore in 14 Indian Premier League games. He had also played against Australia in the final of the World Test Championship in June.
{{/usCountry}}Since the start of this year, Siraj has played in the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and Australia. He made vital contributions in India's 2-1 triumph at the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia and took 19 wickets for Royal Challengers Bangalore in 14 Indian Premier League games. He had also played against Australia in the final of the World Test Championship in June.
{{/usCountry}}"Siraj has been continuously playing since the IPL. Since then he has bowled in three successive Tests. He will now directly join the Asia Cup camp in NCA for tune-up to World Cup," a BCCI source was quoted as saying by PTI.
Why didn't the selectors name a replacement for Siraj in India ODI squad?
The interesting bit, however, is that the Ajit Agarkar-led senior men's selection committee did not name a replacement for Siraj for the three-match ODI series. While BCCI did not give any official reason for not doing the same, there are various factors supporting their decision.
For starters, it's a logistical nightmare. Siraj's pullout was a last-minute one and if somebody was to be sent to the Caribbean islands then he would not have reached before the 2nd ODI. For two ODIs, it would have been far too much of a hassle. Saini, who was with the Test squad, was perhaps the only solution to this but one can understand why the selectors did not hold him back. Despite making his debut about four years ago, he has fallen behind the pecking order. When Shardul Thakur got injured, India handed a debut to Mukesh Kumar instead of picking Saini in the second Test.
There was another factor that may have played a major role. Despite Siraj's unavailability, India still have Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Mukesh Kumar and Umran Malik in the squad. With Hardik Pandya guaranteed to play all three matches, the chances of India picking more than two specialist seamers are anyway less, considering the slow nature of pitches in the Caribbean.