ICC T20 World Cup 2026| Mohammed Siraj likely to replace injured Harshit Rana

The 24-year-old pacer is unlikely to recover in time to play any of the matches, starting with the lung-opener against the USA on Saturday.

India received a blow a day ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 with speedster Harshit Rana being ruled out of the T20 World Cup because of a knee injury sustained in a warm-up game here with skipper Suryakumar Yadav admitting that he was "not looking good".

Fellow pacer Mohammed Siraj has been drafted in to replace Rana in the squad, according to reliable Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) sources.

Earlier, Suryakumar's admission was indication enough that the 24-year-old was unlikely to recover in time to play any of the matches, starting with the lung-opener against the USA on Saturday (February 7).

"Harshit Rana has not been ruled out yet, the physios are assessing him but he does not look good," Suryakumar said at the pre-match press conference in Mumbai.

The Indian captain, however, tried to make light of the setback.

"Don't worry, we have 11 players for tomorrow. But it obviously would be a big blow because you make a squad of 15 after a lot of thought and he was included after some thought process," said Suryakumar.

"But if he is not available going forward, we will then set different combinations. We have enough players and combinations against all teams that we can have for this tournament but if we miss him (for not being available), we will definitely miss him," he added.

Rana could bowl only one over in the warm-up game against South Africa in which he conceded 16 runs and then hobbled off the field with a knee injury.

(with inputs from agencies)