When Mohammed Siraj was given the breaking news of his last-minute inclusion in the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup 2026, he had told captain Suryakumar Yadav to stop joking around. Little did he know that the matter was serious and that he was destined to replace Harshit Rana in the 15-member side. Siraj, who last featured in T20Is in 2024, had zero hopes of being a part of the T20 World Cup 2026-winning Indian team. Days later, he had a medal around his neck. Quite unbelievable, right?

However, Siraj’s role in T20Is is quite limited. The evidence for this is that he featured in just one game throughout the tournament. Although he impressed in just that one outing, his future in the shortest format of the game remains bleak. After all, he has established himself as India’s go-to bowler in Tests, and sometimes in ODIs as well, in the recent past.

Will Siraj feature further in T20Is?

After Rana was ruled out and Siraj was named as his replacement, he immediately made it to the playing XI in the game against the USA. He did not disappoint, despite returning to the shortest format of the game after a long time. The Hyderabad pacer registered figures of 3/29 in the contest, getting the wickets of openers Andries Gous, Saiteja Mukkamalla, and Shubham Ranjane.

However, he was sidelined from India’s playing XI since that contest. For the record, Siraj was a part of India’s T20I setup until the T20 World Cup 2024. No one can forget his “I only believe in Jassi bhai line.”

However, Siraj is out of the reckoning for T20Is, especially with India preferring Bumrah and Arshdeep as their go-to pacers in T20Is, followed by Hardik as the third one. Shivam Dube, who gives them an additional batting option, is the fourth pace option.

Among all formats of the game, Siraj has been the least effective in T20Is. He has 17 wickets to his name from as many games. He has the best figures of 4/17 and averages 28.29. In the T20 World Cups, he has played just 4 matches and taken only 4 wickets, 3 of which came against the USA.

His stats, coupled with his inclusion in the playing XI, pretty much clearly state that Siraj is out of the reckoning when it comes to T20Is and is bound to be considered as a back-up option in the future.