Kamal Ghorui
MUMBAI: Mohammed Siraj returned to India’s T20I side and took 3-29 in four overs as India beat USA by 29 runs in their opening match of the 2026 T20 World Cup at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday. Siraj came into the playing eleven after India’s premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out due to illness.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!The 31-year-old Hyderabad fast bowler had earlier received a call-up to the squad after pace-bowling all-rounder Harshit Rana was ruled out of the T20 World Cup due to a knee injury.
India’s T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav informed Siraj that he wanted to draft him as Rana’s replacement. Siraj said he initially thought his captain was joking before being convinced he was serious. Narrating his T20I comeback, Siraj told reporters philosophically: “Two days ago, Surya bhai said, ‘Miaan bags pack kar aur aaja’. I told him, ‘Bhai mazaak maat karo, kyon ki yeh to honewala hain nahin.’ But he said, ‘Main sach keh raha hoon, ready ho jaa’. Then Ojha bhai (India selector) called me. Whatever the almighty has written, no one can change that.”Before Saturday, Siraj had last played for India in the format on July 30 against Sri Lanka at Pallekele. Siraj said he had planned to travel to Spain during a rare break after India’s home season before the IPL commenced. “There is a Real Madrid game on 15th and I was going to watch it, and after that Ramzan, but whatever the almighty has written happens.”A football fan, Siraj still has the Cristiano Ronaldo wallpaper on his phone, which he previously shared on Day 5 of the Oval Test during the England tour. “The wallpaper is still the same,” he revealed during the post-match press conference on Saturday.Siraj was part of India’s victorious 2024 T20 World Cup campaign in Barbados, but he said he was not in India’s plans for this edition. After receiving the call-up, Siraj said he did not know he would play in the opening game. “I got to know in the morning that I am playing, so I was a little more excited because I only arrived yesterday (Friday). I wanted to keep myself calm and I was only thinking about how I can put pressure and attack. Whatever I could think of, I was able to execute,” he concluded.
