Indian cricket faces a setback as young pacer Harshit Rana's T20 World Cup participation is in jeopardy due to a knee injury, potentially opening doors for Prasidh Krishna or Mohammed Siraj.
Young India speedster Harshit Rana is set to be ruled out of the T20 World Cup because of a knee injury sustained in a warm-up game with skipper Suryakumar Yadav admitting on Friday that he is "not looking good".
Suryakumar didn't rule him out just yet, but dropped enough hints that one of head coach Gautam Gambhir's protege is unlikely to recover in time to play any of the matches, starting with the lung-opener against the USA on Saturday.
"Harshit Rana has not been ruled out yet, the physios are assessing him but he does not look good," Suryakumar said at the pre-match press conference here on Friday.
The Indian captain might have kept his cards close to his chest but reliable sources in the team asserted that Rana has no chance of recovering at any stage of the tournament.
"Don't worry, we have 11 players for tomorrow. But it obviously would be a big blow because you make a squad of 15 after a lot of thought and he was included after some thought process," said Suryakumar.
"But if he is not available going forward, we will then set different combinations. We have enough players and combinations against all teams that we can have for this tournament but if we miss him (for not being available), we will definitely miss him," he added.
Rana could bowl only one over in the warm-up game against South Africa in which he conceded 16 runs and then hobbled off the field with a knee injury.
Although Rana is not a first eleven certainty with an economy rate of 10.60 in nine T20Is, he certainly would have been a handy inclusion in specific conditions. He is also a useful lower-order hitter.
In place of Rana, the pacers who could be in contention are Prasidh Krishna, and Mohammed Siraj among the experienced ones.
According to Indian Express, Mohammed Siraj has been picked as Harshit Rana’s replacement.
All-rounder Washington Sundar is already looking doubtful with a side strain and rib muscle tear.
"We will see which (other) fast bowlers have done really well for the last one or two years or if there is any bowler who can bat as well," Suryakumar said of available options.
"But there is no hard and fast rule that he can bat, because if you are expecting someone at No.9 or No.10 to come out and hit a six, then what are the other eight (players) doing before him? We will see, we do have a few options but we will pick the best one," he added.