Mohammed Siraj gets rest, returns home ahead of ODIs vs West Indies

Mohammed Siraj has flown back to India after the Test series against West Indies to enjoy some much-deserved rest ahead of a hectic remainder of the 2023 season.

The 29-year-old fast bowler returned with other members of the Test side - Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat, and Navdeep Saini - and will not participate in the three-match ODI rubber which begins Thursday. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is yet to name a replacement for Siraj.

The pacer has been playing regular cricket since before the IPL. He is also the only bowler apart from Ravindra Jadeja to participate in India's three recent Tests - the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia and the two games against West Indies.

He picked 12 wickets in the three matches, including a brilliant five-wicket haul against West Indies on a flat wicket at Port of Spain. Siraj last played an ODI series in March 2022 against Australia, where he was the highest wicket-taker for India.

The right-arm speedster has solved a major problem in the Men in Blue's ODI setup by consistently picking up wickets in the powerplay. Since last year, he has taken 26 wickets in the first 10 overs, the most for any bowler in the format. Siraj's overall 43 wickets are the most by an Indian bowler in this phase too.

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Who'll replace Mohammed Siraj in India's ODI XI?

As India have Hardik Pandya in the team to bowl a few overs, they will likely play Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav as the two spinners and either Axar Patel or Shardul Thakur as the second all-rounder.

Mohammed Siraj would have led the pace attack with Umran Malik to support him. But now, in his absence, India have the perfect chance to test out left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat. He has 168 wickets in 116 List-A games at an average of 28.97. If Unadkat does well, India will have more variety in the team ahead of the 2023 World Cup.

India's ODI squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Umran Malik, Jaydev Unadkat, Shardul Thakur, Mukesh Kumar and Yuzvendra Chahal.