Kris Srikkanth criticises team management ahead of ENG vs IND 2026 series

Former Indian opener Kris Srikkanth has questioned the team management and selectors ahead of the ODI series against England. Srikkanth said he would have picked Mohammed Siraj ahead of Arshdeep Singh for England ODIs.

Siraj was dropped from the ODI team as the selectors and the team’s think tank thought he might not be effective with the old ball in the 50-over format.

Meanwhile, Siraj was initially named in India’s T20I squad for the upcoming UK tour but he was later replaced by Prasidh Krishna to manage his workload.

Siraj recently played in the one-off Test match against Afghanistan but he was not part of the ODI squad against the visitors.

Siraj was added to India’s T20 World Cup squad 2026 after Harshit Rana was ruled out with a knee injury but he played a solitary match against the USA.

Kris Srikkanth said on his YouTube Channel, “Siraj should have been in the team. I don’t know why he’s not in the squad. Prasidh Krishna bowled brilliantly in the Chennai game and Harshit Rana was impressive before the injury. Selecting Gurnoor Brar is also fair as a way of encouraging a newcomer. But Arshdeep Singh in ODIs is only medicore. Between him and Siraj, I would have gone for Siraj.”

On the other hand, Srikkanth also opened up on Yashasvi Jaiswal’s exclusion in the ODI squad. Jaiswal, who replaced Virat Kohli in the Afghanistan series, scored 110 runs in the final game but could not get a place in England ODIs.

“I am not sure what the captain, coach or selector can tell Jaiswal. They’ll probably say sorry to him before telling him there is no place in the team. But it’s hard to see how he can be there even in the 15. He has to bide his time and just hang on. He’s an all-format player with a good temperament and I feel bad for him,” said Srikkanth (via the aforementioned source).

“Hopefully his time comes shortly because the same thing happened to Ishan Kishan. He was dropped after a double century and did not find a place for a long time. Now he has established himself after coming back. The competition has become so huge and on top of all this, Vaibhav Suryavanshi is fast arriving.”

India will next take on Ireland in a two-match T20I series.