"Should have been there" - Salman Butt feels India erred by not picking Mohammed Siraj for T20 World Cup 2022

Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt believes that pacer Mohammed Siraj should have been a part of India's squad for last year's T20 World Cup in Australia. The Men in Blue picked four placers in Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, and Mohammed Shami, while Siraj was among the standby players.

Butt feels that the Indian selectors made the wrong call by having swing merchants in their lineup for the showpiece event over hit-the-deck bowlers. He claimed that seamers like Siraj would have been more successful on the bouncy tracks in Australia.

"Indian selectors made a big mistake while picking the team for the T20 World Cup," Butt said in a video shared on his YouTube channel. "Instead of going ahead with hit-the-deck pacers, they relied on swing bowlers. You need to have hit-the-deck bowlers on Australian pitches.

"Mohammed Siraj had bowled really well in those conditions during the Test series, and he should have been there in the squad."

Notably, India's bowlers let them down in the all-important semi-final against England. The English batters made a mockery of the Men in Blue's 169-run target, chasing it down with 24 balls to spare to secure a 10-wicket victory.

---

Mohammed Siraj has been in spectacular form lately

Mohammed Siraj has emerged as India's leading fast bowler in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah. The right-arm pacer has impressed many with his bowling exploits in both white-ball and red-ball cricket.

Siraj has bagged five wickets from the first two matches in the ongoing three-match home ODI series against Sri Lanka. The 28-year-old was the leading wicket-taker in ODIs for India in 2022, picking up 24 wickets in 15 matches. He bagged 11 wickets in Tests along with seven wickets in T20Is in the last calendar year.

The Hyderabad-born seamer's form will be key for India as they look to build a formidable bowling attack for this year's 50-over World Cup on home soil.

Siraj will next be seen in action during the third ODI against Sri Lanka. The match will be played in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday, January 15.

The contest will be a dead rubber as Rohit Sharma and Co. have sealed the series by winning the first two fixtures.