What's happening with Mohammed Siraj?
He's one of five players part of both the ODI and Test squads on India's tour of New Zealand, but he and Kuldeep Yadav have remained with the ODI team for the fourth and fifth games of that series in Mount Maunganui, while Shubman Gill, KL Rahul and Anshul Kamboj have left to join the pre-Test-series camp in Wellington.
It seems unlikely Kuldeep will play much of a role in the two Tests, given the conditions typically prevalent in Wellington and Christchurch. Siraj, though, seems a certain starter if fit, given he's a Test regular and India's second-most-important red-ball fast bowler behind Jasprit Bumrah. So shouldn't he be with his Test mates now, getting ready for Basin Reserve on November 19?
There's a popular notion that Siraj gets better with match practice, and perhaps India agree with this idea, and want him to play competitive games in the lead-up to the Tests rather than simply bowl in the nets. But he hasn't yet bowled a ball in the ODI series.
Siraj wasn't with India's squad for the first ODI in Auckland, because he had just finished playing for India A in their second unofficial Test against New Zealand A in Christchurch. He joined the squad in Wellington ahead of the second ODI, but didn't play that game either. The third ODI in Hamilton was washed out without a ball bowled, but the toss took place, and India once again named an XI without Siraj in it.
India picked attacks with four seamers in all three ODIs: Arshdeep Singh, Auqib Nabi, Kamboj and Gurnoor Brar.
On Thursday, Siraj took the new ball and bowled a lengthy spell in India's net session on the eve of the fourth ODI. It seems likely he'll come into the XI on Friday, with Kamboj having left the squad.
It's complicated to know what to read from all this, because of the three-format logjam India are dealing with. On this tour, the T20Is have been relatively less important than the ODIs and Tests. India are building towards a 50-overs World Cup next year, and an away Test series is a big deal with or without the incentive of World Test Championship points.
To this end, Bumrah has been rested even from the ODIs, and India, perhaps, are looking to lighten Siraj's load too. He's only played five competitive games since the two Test matches in Sri Lanka in August, when he had looked significantly down on pace, but the team management might argue that four of these games - one ODI and three first-class matches - have come since the start of October. And he sent down 68 overs across those three first-class games - two in the Ranji Trophy and one for India A - of which 35 came in one innings of the unofficial Test in Christchurch, in which he took four wickets.
Since that match ended only on November 3, India may have wanted to give Siraj a break before throwing him into action again. And they perhaps feel two ODIs followed by two days of red-ball nets - November 17 and 18, after travelling from Mount Maunganui to Wellington on November 16 - is the ideal way to get him ready for the Test matches.
Is this what India think? Who knows, because they are notoriously tight-lipped about most things. They don't owe us explanations - they're a sports team, not a government ministry - but it might be in their own interest to tell us things sometimes, so there's less speculation and innuendo swirling around outside their bubble.
India may well be doing what's best for Siraj in the lead-up to the Test series - assuming there are no surprises with regards to his participation at Basin Reserve - but what of his ODI career? Where does he stand in that pecking order now?
In the previous ODI World Cup cycle - 2019 to 2023 - Siraj was one of the world's best 50-overs bowlers. Of all fast bowlers to play at least 20 ODIs between the two World Cups (not including the tournament games), he had the best average - an outstanding 18.61. There was a reason why he kept Mohammed Shami out of India's starting XI through the first half of the 2023 World Cup.
Since the final of that tournament, though, Siraj has only played 10 ODIs, and was left out of the squad for the next big ODI event - the 2025 Champions Trophy. With India's matches taking place in the UAE, there was room for only three specialist fast bowlers in the squad, and those places went to Bumrah, Arshdeep and Mohammed Shami. And when Bumrah was ruled out on the eve of the tournament, it was Harshit Rana and not Siraj who replaced him.
Siraj, then, has become a peripheral figure in India's ODI plans for a number of reasons. Others bring attributes he doesn't possess: Arshdeep is a left-armer; Rana, Kamboj and Nabi can plausibly bat at No. 8; Brar and Prasidh Krishna are tall, quick, hit-the-deck bowlers, and are viewed as more useful through the middle overs. Sometimes Siraj has been rested with Test cricket in mind, and others have taken his place and impressed.
Since the end of the 2023 World Cup, Siraj has taken nine wickets in 10 ODIs at an average of 47.44. Others have better numbers. And it may not be his fault, because he's only played sporadically, but it's how life sometimes pans out when you're an India player dealing with intense competition for spots.
So what's happening with Mohammed Siraj? A lot, much of it hard to explain, much of it beyond his control, and more may yet come over the next few weeks.