Harshit Rana likely to be ruled out of T20 World Cup

Harshit Rana may be ruled out of the T20 World Cup. Rana's possible unavailability for the championship, starting in 24 hours, was hinted at by India skipper Suryakumar Yadav on Friday (February 6).

"He hasn't been ruled out yet, but after the warm-up game, he wasn't looking good. Physios are assessing him, but I think we'll find out today. But he doesn't look good. Yeah, it's not that great," Suryakumar said.

Should the 24-year-old be ruled out of the World Cup, the selectors may call Mohammed Siraj, who is believed to be in Germany currently.

The Rana development comes ahead of India's opening match against USA in the World Cup and the India skipper said it will be a loss for the side. "(That it's a) big blow is obvious. If you make a squad of 15 players. You make the squad with a lot of combinations in mind. We made it with that in mind. And if he's not available for us going forward, then we'll set other combinations.

"But we have enough players and combinations against all the teams that we can make for the tournament. But if we miss him, we'll definitely miss him."

Suryakumar, however, refused to say if Siraj will be the replacement. "We'll see which fast bowlers have done really well for the last 1 or 2 years. And who is a bowler who can bat as well. But there's no hard and fast rule that he has to bat.

"Because if you're expecting someone at 9 or 10 to come and hit a six. Then what will you do with the top 8 people? What will you tell them? But we'll see. But we do have a few options, we'll pick the best one."