India are all set to take on South Africa in their first match of the Super Eight stage of the T20 World Cup 2026 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on February 22 (Sunday). India came into this tournament, with an injury to Washington Sundar and Jasprit Bumrah was suffering from an illness. After the first match against USA, Abhishek Sharma faced a health scare as he had to be admitted to the hospital due to a stomach issue. Before the tournament, Harshit Rana was ruled out due to surgery. Before the South Africa match, India suffered yet another injury scare, that too courtesy Hardik Pandya.
During a practice session before the match against South Africa, Mohammed Siraj was hit by a blazing shot from Hardik Pandya. He was looked at by the physio. he did return back to bowling, but was still seen limping off.
Mohammed Siraj was not part of the T20 World Cup 2026 squad initially. However, after Harshit Rana was ruled out due to an injury that forced a surgery, it was Siraj who was brought in to the team.
In the first match of Group A against USA, Mohammed Siraj made his way into the playing XI in place of an ill Jasprit Bumrah. Defending a total of 162, Siraj was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with figures of 3/29.
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India started their T20 World Cup 2026 campaign with a 29-run win against Pakistan, which was followed by a huge 91- run win against Namibia. This was followed by a routing of their arch-rivals Pakistan by 61 runs. They ended their Group stage with a 17-run victory against the Netherlands. They thus qualified for the Super 8 stage.
India have been grouped alongside South Africa, Zimbabwe, and the West Indies in the Super 8, and needs to finish in the top two of this group to qualify for the semi-final.
Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rinku Singh
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Shaunak Ghosh is a Senior Sports Correspondent at Timesnownews with over seven years of experience in print and digital journalism. He holds a postgra...View More
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