In what might come as a major blow to India’s chances of defending the T20 World Cup at home, star pacer Harshit Rana was on Friday ruled out of the tournament due to a knee injury, less than 24 hours before India’s first match of the marquee event against the USA.
Rana has been a constant feature of India’s squads across formats over the past year and was expected to be a part of the playing XI constantly during the tournament.
BCCI named Mohammed Siraj as Rana’s replacement in the squad ahead of the tournament.
“Team India pacer Harshit Rana has been ruled out of the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 after sustaining a knee injury during the warm-up match against South Africa in Navi Mumbai on February 4th 2026,” BCCI said in a statement.
The statement added that after consultations with a specialist and subsequent X-rays, the BCCI medical team ruled Rana unfit to take part in the T20 World Cup.
Siraj, who last played a T20I in July 2024, a month after India’s T20 World Cup title triumph, now might find a place in the XI. He though played in the recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Hyderabad and picked seven wickets in four matches, at an impressive economy of 5.81.
Earlier, Suryakumar Yadav’s admission had all but confirmed that head coach Gautam Gambhir’s 24-year-old protégé might not recover in time to feature in any games, beginning with the tournament opener against the USA on Saturday, February 7.
“Harshit Rana hasn’t been ruled out yet; the physios are assessing him, but he doesn’t look good,” Suryakumar said at the pre-match press conference in Mumbai on Friday.
India’s updated squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel (VC), Rinku Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Washington Sundar, Mohd. Siraj
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