MUMBAI: A lot goes into forming a team combination which is capable of countering every possible situation ahead of a big event. Lots of permutations and combinations are in play to determine the squad of 15. India were no different as the team management chose the best possible 15 from for the 2026 T20 World Cup in their quest to repeat the feat they achieved in the previous edition.
They, however, suffered a big setback as pace-bowling all-rounder Harshit Rana hobbled out of India's second warm-up match against South Africa a couple of days ago. In Rana they have a pacer, who can bowl a few tight overs and also do slog hitting to accelerate the team's scoring rate in the death overs. That all will change with Rana's unlucky ouster from the tournament.
India captain Suryakumar Yadav addressed the issue during the press conference on the eve of the co-hosts' opening match against the USA here at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday. "He (Harshit) hasn't been ruled out yet, but after the warm-up game, he wasn't looking good. Physios are assessing him, but I think we'll find out today (Friday). But he doesn't look good. Yeah, it's not that great," was the India captain's reply on Rana's injury.
Later in the evening, the BCCI said that following consultations with a specialist and subsequent scans, the BCCI medical team deemed him unfit to participate in the tournament. The statement also said that Mohammed Siraj will join the team as Harshit’s replacement in the squad.
Despite not being a batting all-rounder, Rana has the ability to score runs as he has shown during India's recent ODI against New Zealand in Indore. In the match that India lost, Rana scored 52 of just 43 balls to keep the hosts in hunt for a big chase of 338. He also claimed three wickets in the match. Besides, he has a first-class century under his belt.
No doubt Siraj has won quite a few matches for India with the ball irrespective of the formats but he doesn't add to the batting depth as his numbers with the willow are not that impressive. Add to it injury to another all-rounder Washington Sundar. The Tamil Nadu all-rounder is at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. Unavailability of such all-rounders, who can contribute both with the bat and ball, can disturb India's plan and Suryakumar acknowledged the fact.
"...the big blow is obvious. If you make a squad of 15 players. You make the squad with a lot of combinations in mind. We made it with that in mind. And if he’s not available for us going forward, then we'll set other combinations. But we have enough players and combinations. Against all the teams that we can make for the tournament. But if we miss him, we'll definitely miss him," the India captain said.
He affirmed India have 11 players for the USA match and a few options to pick from. "We'll see which fast bowlers have done really well for the last one or two years. And who is a bowler who can bat as well. But there's no hard and fast rule that he has to bat. Because if you're expecting someone at No 9 or 10 to come and hit a six. Then what will you do with the top 8 people? What will you tell them? But we'll see. But we do have a few options, we'll pick the best one," he added.
Nevertheless, India have enough spin-bowling all-rounders and all of them including explosive opener Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma can roll their arms over in case of need. Then they also have medium pacer Shivam Dube, who of late has done a fair bit of bowling. However, the unforeseen injuries ahead of any big tournaments are expected to derail any team's plan at least to some extent. Only time will tell how much impact it has on India and their quest for glory.
