'Selection blunder'- Fans bemused by Mohammed Siraj's exclusion from India's T20 World Cup squad

The mystery over Jasprit Bumrah's replacement for the T20 World Cup finally came to a lull on Friday after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) included Mohammed Shami as the 15th member of the Indian squad. Although the in-form Mohammed Siraj was named as the backup, Indian fans were displeased after his exclusion from the main roster.

India's title aspirations suffered an untimely dent after ace fast bowler Jasprt Bumrah was ruled out of the ICC mega event owing to a back injury. Bumrah had already missed the Asia Cup and only made a comeback against Australia last month. Shami felt like the obvious choice to replace Bumrah in the Indian squad for the World Cup in Australia. 

But the former's fitness after contracting Covid-19 became a headache for the team management, who were also exploring other options like Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur. Though Siraj has performed marvelously in the 50-over format for India this calendar year, including his player of the series display in the ODI series against South Africa, India opted for Shami's experience rather than Siraj's exuberance.

The RCB pacer might still find himself in the mix in the forthcoming global event if a player sustains an unfortunate injury since he has been named among the four reserve players for India. He takes Shami's place in the reserves list while Shardul Thakur replaces Deepak Chahar, who was also ruled out of the tournament earlier this month. India will kick off their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan at the iconic MCG after taking on Australia and New Zealand in their two designated warm-up games.

India squad for ICC T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami.

India fans were left disgruntled after Mohammed Siraj's exclusion from the main squad and expressed their discontent on Twitter:

Yea team management kaun kaun rehta bhai..How they make decisions don't understand 😂😂🤣. Should have been Siraj instead of Shami

— Sai (@saiwassup) October 14, 2022

Shami is experienced but in Australia Md. Siraj will be the better choice as a replacement of Jasprit Bumrah , may be . #T20WC2022 pic.twitter.com/tVL083Ul1a

— DEBARATI (@DebAnu2002) October 14, 2022

I feel for Siraj. I really do.

This is a selection blunder, IMO.

I hope this selection call doesn't backfire. Will be more than happy to be proven wrong.#T20WC2022 https://t.co/vPXHE7uGdo

— Farzan Patel (@TheTipsyParsi) October 14, 2022

Sometimes you judge bowlers by skill and what you see on the screen , not plain stats. Siraj had bowled beautifully at the death and was only getting better in the SA series.

And what experience does Shami in T20I's that he can boast of? Has played hardly 19 games ig

— Kaushik Jegadeesan (@kaushik0803) October 14, 2022

Siraj hona chahiye tha.

— 𝕊ℍ𝔸ℝ𝔸𝔻 🦁 (@sharad__tweets) October 14, 2022

Trash replaced by garbage as expected. Agar chance he Lena tha to siraj ya umran pe lete atleast koi expectations to nahi hoti 😔😔 https://t.co/VXGM7XwvgX

— हर्षित (@Italymeraghar) October 14, 2022

Siraj could have been better option.

— Sudharshan (@pmsudharshan) October 14, 2022

Not saying Shami is a bad choice but Siraj would have been a pick over Shami. Shami brings experience and Siraj has a variation !

— Sammy@horizon 🇮🇳⚽🥅 (@mAnishhastir) October 14, 2022

The bcci has no idea to select the md .siraj he is in brilliant form its a sad news😢😢

— Raju Raj (@RajuRaj38819656) October 14, 2022

No match time since few months for S Shami, also Siraj was bowling well and was in rhythm.

— Sumit Agarwal (@sumit_int) October 14, 2022