India speedster Mohammed Siraj opened up about his exclusion from the T20 World Cup 2026 squad, which is scheduled to take place in India and Sri Lanka next month. Siraj, who is currently featuring in the three-match ODI series against South Africa addmitted that he would love to compete in the marquee event, but the call was taken to manage his workload.
Mohammed Siraj on T20 World Cup 2026 exclusion
Notably, Siraj has been out of India's T20I side since 2024; his last T20I outing came against Sri Lanka after the T20 World Cup 2024, where he remained wicketless, conceding 11 runs in three overs.
"Would have loved to compete in the big tournament but workload management perhaps dictated the call" said Siraj ahead of 3rd ODI against New Zealand.
Mohammed Siraj's T20I career
Siraj has played 16 T20Is so far were he picked up 14 wickets, including a four-wicket haul, conceding 452 runs. The Hyderabad-born speedster was also a part of Rohit Sharma-led T20 World Cup 2024 squad, where he played three matches and managed to pick one wicket but bowled very economically (economy of 5.18).
ALSO READ: Massive blow for Mumbai as experienced batter withdraws from rest of Ranji Trophy 2025-26
Mohammed Siraj's upcoming outing
The speedster is currently in Indore alongside Shubman Gill-led ODI team, and he will be seen in action in the third ODI against BlackCaps, which will take place on January 18 at Holkar Stadium.
India's T20 World Cup 2026 schedule
Suryakumar Yadav-led India will start their T20 World Cup 2026 campaign against the United States of America (USA), which will take place in Mumbai on February 7. The co-hosts will then face Namibia in their second clash, which will take place at Arun Jaitely Stadium in New Delhi. The high-voltage clash of the tournament between India and Pakistan will take place on February 15 in Colombo.
| Match | Date | Opponent | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Match | February 7 | India vs United States | Mumbai |
| Second Match | February 12 | India vs Namibia | Delhi |
| Third Match | February 15 | India vs Pakistan | Colombo |
| Fourth Match | February 18 | India vs Netherlands | Ahmedabad |
India's T20 World Cup 2026 squad
Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rinku Singh.