Mohammed Siraj, Umran Malik to travel with Indian squad for T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia

Umran Malik and Mohammed Siraj, are expected to fly to Perth with India’s World Cup team as back-up for an injured Jasprit Bumrah and net-bowlers for the preliminary phase.

According to Sportstar, “Mohammed Siraj and Umran Malik will fly with the group to Perth on October 6 for a week of training before traveling to Brisbane for its first warm-up match on October 17.”

Due to a back issue, it is possible that Jasprit Bumrah would be ruled out of India’s World Cup squad.

While reports on Thursday suggested that he should rest for at least four months, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly remarked earlier today that there is still a long way to go until the World Cup and that Bumrah could be able to play till then.

Indian bowlers had poor outings at the 2022 Asia Cup where they failed to reach the finals after defeats against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Most recently, India managed to win against Australia by 2-1 in the three-match T20I series at home but it was not a convincing performance from the bowlers.

Notably in the first T20I in Mohali, Indian bowlers failed to defend a 209-run target and came under criticism ahead of the upcoming World Cup in Australia next month.

Umran took 22 wickets in 14 IPL 2022 matches and earned his T20I international debut against Ireland in June. However, he failed to make an immediate impact, taking only two wickets in three T20Is at a poor economy rate of 12.44. Umran struggled for wickets against the New Zealand A team earlier this month, so his inclusion in the reserves comes as a surprise to many.

After Parvez Rasool, Umran is the only other Jammu & Kashmir player to have played international cricket.