India seam bowler Harshit Rana has been ruled out of the Twenty20 World Cup with a knee injury, India’s cricket board (BCCI) announced on Friday, with Mohammed Siraj named as a replacement.
Rana, who has also developed into a handy lower-order batter, sustained the injury during a warm-up match against South Africa on Wednesday when he bowled just one over before leaving the field.
Skipper Suryakumar Yadav had said that Rana’s injury did not look good but that they had enough depth in the squad to deal with it.
Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh are likely to share the new-ball duty, while India also have seam-bowling all-rounders in Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube.
“It’s a big blow obviously because you make a squad of 15 players with a lot of combinations in mind,” Suryakumar said ahead of Saturday’s Group A contest against the United States.
“If he is not available for us going forward, then we will set other combinations. We have enough players…”
The International Cricket Council said they had approved Siraj as a replacement for Rana.
India are bidding to be the first team in the tournament’s history to successfully defend their title and also be the first host to win a T20 World Cup.
INDIA SQUAD
Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel (vice-captain), Rinku Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj
(Reuters)
