The Mohammed Siraj workload question: How India created cricket's busiest fast bowler

When Mohammed Siraj's name appeared in India's squads for the T20I series against Ireland and England, it came as something of a surprise. After all, T20 internationals had stopped being Mohammed Siraj's world a while ago.


Since lifting the T20 World Cup in Barbados in June 2024, Siraj has played just one bilateral T20I series - against Sri Lanka later that year. At the 2026 T20 World Cup, he featured in just one game, against the USA, when Jasprit Bumrah was rested. Even his place in that squad came only after Harshit Rana's injury opened a vacancy.




In ODIs too, Siraj had slowly drifted away from the centre of India's plans. Since the 2023 World Cup, he has played only nine of India's 23 ODIs, missed out on the Champions Trophy squad and watched others move ahead in the pecking order.


His recalls for the Australia series in 2025 and later the New Zealand ODIs in January this year were largely driven by Bumrah's absence. When Bumrah had returned for the home series against South Africa in 2025, Siraj once again found himself outside the XI.


It was becoming increasingly clear that Siraj's opportunities in white-ball cricket hinged more on Bumrah's workload management than on being viewed as a long-term first-choice option.


With Bumrah rested again for the England and Ireland T20Is, Siraj's inclusion made perfect sense. Which is why his withdrawal days after the squad announcement, with Prasidh Krishna named as a replacement under a ‘workload management programme’, sounded curious.

The obvious question was this: how could a bowler who had barely featured in India's T20I plans and had slipped down the ODI pecking order suddenly need rest?


The answer, though, lies not in the format he has stopped playing, but in the one India have simply refused to play without him.


While Siraj's white-ball role has diminished, he has become India's default fast bowler in Tests. He has played when others were rested and when they were injured.


And over the last three years, that responsibility has turned Siraj into something remarkable: The busiest fast bowler in world cricket.

There was a time when India's fast bowlers simply endured the calendar. Kapil Dev carried impossible loads because there were few alternatives. Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma survived through eras when workload management was still a distant thought.

But with Jasprit Bumrah came a new philosophy. The value of preservation went up. His schedule became carefully managed, series were skipped, and workloads monitored. The objective was simple: maximise longevity.


But while Bumrah rested, somebody still had to carry the burden. That somebody was Siraj.


Since January 2023, Siraj has bowled 1,231 overs across Tests, ODIs, T20Is and the IPL - the most by any fast bowler during that period. Only Ravindra Jadeja has bowled more.

And most of that burden comes from Test cricket.


T20Is have barely featured in Siraj's workload, accounting for just nine matches and 30 overs since 2023.


In Tests, that number stands at 744 overs across 30 matches - nearly 25 overs every Test. In other words, 60 per cent of Siraj's entire workload has come in the format that places the greatest physical demands on fast bowlers.


So while Siraj was increasingly viewed as expendable in white-ball cricket, he had become indispensable with the red ball.


India have played 33 Tests since 2023, and Siraj has featured in 30 of them - a staggering 91 per cent. Bumrah, whose workload has been carefully managed, has played two-thirds.


When India toured England in 2025, Siraj became the only Indian seamer to feature in all five Tests, bowling 185 overs and finishing as the side's leading wicket-taker.

And that perhaps explains why the latest decision should not be viewed through the prism of T20Is alone. Those matches, frankly, are expendable. What lies ahead isn't.


A long international season. Seventeen ODIs. Ten Tests. Preparations for the 2027 World Cup. And like Bumrah before him, India may now be realising something about Siraj.


That the 32-year-old has quietly become too important to risk.


Perhaps that explains the recent decisions - overlooking him for Afghanistan ODIs and pulling him out of the England and Ireland T20Is. With a demanding season ahead, this is probably the only window available to give him a breather.


There is a certain irony to all this.

For much of the last year, debates revolved around why Mohammed Siraj had become a one-format bowler. The data reveals something very different. Far from becoming less important, Siraj had quietly become indispensable.


While India built their workload management philosophy around Bumrah, Siraj became the man carrying its consequences. For three years, he has been India's workhorse. Which is perhaps why the words ‘workload management’ have finally reached him too. Not because his performances have dipped. Not because his body has broken down. But because India can no longer afford either to happen.




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