‘Siraj’s effectiveness comes down…’: Rohit Sharma’s blunt view on dropping IND pacer from Champions Trophy squad

India skipper Rohit Sharma opened up about the reason for dropping Mohammed Siraj out of the Champions Trophy squad. Siraj, who was part of India’s 2023 ODI World Cup and 2024 T20 WC squads, failed to make it into the 15-member team for the Champions Trophy, which is scheduled to start next month. In the last couple of years, Siraj has turned out to be the workhorse for the Indian pace unit, but the Indian skipper feels that his effectiveness dropped down in the death overs, which is why the selection committee went ahead with other options.

Rohit termed Siraj unfortunate to miss out on the selection and said his reduced effect with the old ball played a part in it.

“Siraj’s effectiveness comes down a little bit if he’s not going to take the new ball. We discussed it at length and we are only taking three seamers there (CT) because we wanted all the all-rounders with us,” Rohit said at the press conference.

“It’s an unfortunate thing that he (Siraj) has to miss out but we had no option but to get the guys who can perform a certain role,” he said.

With pitches in Dubai expected to not favour fast bowlers a lot, India picked only three specialist pacers in the squad for the mega ICC event. Jasprit Bumrah, who is still recovering from a back injury, got picked, while Mohammed Shami returned to the ODI side for the first time after the 2023 ODI World Cup. Arshdeep Singh was preferred over Siraj in the side for his ability to bowl disciplined line and length in death overs.

‘Arshdeep Singh can handle that pressure’

Rohit hoped Arshdeep would come good in the ODIs too after being around in the T20I setup for a long time.

“Arshdeep hasn’t played a lot of ODIs, but he’s been around the white-ball circuit for a long time. I don’t feel so uncomfortable saying that he’s not experienced,” he said.

“He’s been there (for long) enough and he’s bowled some tough overs in white-ball cricket. I definitely think he can handle that pressure and Shami is a stalwart of white-ball cricket and what he did recently in the (ODI) World Cup, was superb to watch.”