Mohammed Siraj likely to play Hyderabad’s final Ranji Trophy game against Vidarbha

Hyderabad: India fast-bowler Mohammed Siraj is set to play in Ranji Trophy after he was denied a place in the Indian team for the upcoming Champions Trophy.
The Hyderabadi cricketer will join the Test regulars in the home side’s final group game against the table-toppers Vidarbha starting on January 30 in Nagpur. The second leg of the Ranji Trophy is starting on January 23, however, Siraj will not play as Hyderabad resume their Ranji Trophy campaign against second-ranked Himachal Pradesh.
Hyderabad is placed at sixth position in the Elite Group B table of the Ranji Trophy as it scored nine points from five matches while two ended in a draw. President of Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), Jagan Mohan Rao told a news agency that Siraj will be available for the next match in Nagpur.
Despite taking 71 wickets at an average of just 22.97 in ODIs, the most by an Indian pace since 2022, the Hyderabad-born cricketer did not find a spot in India’s squad for the three ODIs against England and the ICC Champions Trophy. Recently, he picked 20 wickets at an average of 31.15 across all five Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia.
He was replaced by left-arm fast-bowler Arshdeep Singh, alongside Jasprit Bumrah, whose selection is subject to fitness while Mohammed Shami, Hardik Pandya and Harshit Rana have been included only for England ODIs.
Not long ago, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) introduced a 10-point policy document which mandates the Indian players to play domestic cricket and refusal to feature in Ranji Trophy will impact their international selection and central contract renewals. Besides Siraj, Ravindra Jadeja (Saurashtra), Rishabh Pant (Delhi), Shubman Gill (Punjab), Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal (both Mumbai) are set to play for their respective state teams.