Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has admitted that Mohammed Siraj has fallen behind in the pecking order in Team India’s ODI team because of India’s preference for bowlers who can bat as well. He, however, shared that the senior pace bowler cannot be completely written off, especially with the 2027 World Cup in mind.

During an interaction on Cricinfo, Pathan said: “His main job is to get wickets. He was at the top of the tree in 2023, talking about ICC rankings. And suddenly things fell out and he went out of the favour. As far as the one day cricket is concerned, right now he’s slightly behind, but he will be competing with pure bowlers rather than bowlers who can bat. The whole topic of him not bowling well with the older ball, which has gone against him, that should not be the case. When he was bowling with the new ball, he was taking regular wickets. Whenever the time came with the old ball, he was doing his work as far as performances were concerned.”

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While continuing the discussion on Siraj, Pathan said that he is fine with youngsters getting more opportunities nowadays as well. However, he urged the selectors to communicate the plan clearly to Siraj.

He said: “Right now, the team management is giving a lot of opportunity to youngsters. I’m okay with that as long as you are communicating very clearly with the senior guy like Mohammed Siraj. And if I’m the selector, I’ll be talking to Siraj, telling him to be ready mentally.”