Harshit Rana ruled out of India's T20 World Cup squad, replacement named

NEW DELHI: Right-arm pacer Harshit Rana has been ruled out of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed on Friday.

According to the Indian cricket board, the 24-year-old sustained a knee injury during the defending champions' warm-up match against the previous edition's runners-up South Africa on Wednesday and was eventually deemed unfit by the BCCI's medical team after consultations with specialists.

"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," the BCCI said in a statement.

"Following consultations with a specialist and subsequent scans, the BCCI medical team deemed him unfit to participate in the tournament. The team management wishes him a speedy recovery," it added.

Consequently, experienced pacer Mohammed Siraj replaced Rana in India's squad for the 20-team mega event, scheduled to run from February 7 to March 8.

"Mohd. Siraj will join the team as Harshit’s replacement in the squad," the BCCI confirmed.

For the unversed, co-hosts and defending champions will start their T20 World Cup 2026 campaign against the United States of America (USA) at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium on February 7.

Their remaining group-stage matches are scheduled against Namibia and the Netherlands on February 12 and 18, respectively.

India's updated T20 World Cup 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 and Mohammed Siraj.