Mohammed Siraj’s workload question: How India produced cricket’s busiest fast bowler

When Mohammed Siraj’s name came up in India’s squads for the T20I series against Ireland and England, it came as something of a surprise. After all, T20 internationals stopped being Mohammed Siraj’s world a while ago.Since lifting the T20 World Cup in Barbados in June 2024, Siraj has played only one bilateral T20I series – against Sri Lanka later that year. In the 2026 FIFA T20 World Cup, he appeared in just one match, against the USA, when Jasprit Bumrah was rested. Even his place in this lineup came only after Harshit Rana’s injury opened up a vacancy. In ODIs too, Siraj slowly moved away from the center of India’s plans. He has played just nine of India’s 23 ODIs since the 2023 World Cup, missing out on the Champions Trophy squad and watching others move up the order.His recall for the 2025 Australia series and later the New Zealand ODI in January this year was largely due to Bumrah’s absence. When Bumrah returned for the home series against South Africa in 2025, Siraj once again found himself out of the playing XI.It was becoming increasingly clear that Siraj’s opportunities in white-ball cricket depended more on Bumrah managing the workload than being seen as a long-term first-choice option.With Bumrah again rested for the England and Ireland T20I, Siraj’s inclusion made perfect sense. That’s why his withdrawal a few days after the team announcement, with Prasidh Krishna named as a replacement under a ‘workload management programme’, sounded strange. The obvious question was this: how could a bowler who had barely featured in India’s T20I plans and dropped out of the ODI order suddenly need a rest?But the answer lies not in the format he stopped playing, but in the format India simply refused to play without him.While Siraj’s white-ball role diminished, he became India’s go-to fast bowler in Tests. He played when others rested and when they were injured.And over the past three years, that responsibility has turned Siraj into something remarkable: the busiest fast bowler in world cricket. There was a time when Indian fast bowlers simply weathered the calendar. Kapil Dev bore impossible costs as there were few alternatives. Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma survived an era when workload management was still a distant thought.But with Jasprit Bumrah came a new philosophy. Retention value has gone up. His schedule was carefully managed, sets were skipped and workload was monitored. The goal was simple: maximize lifespan.But while Bumrah rested, someone still had to carry the burden. That someone was Siraj.As of 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, meaning just nine matches and 30 overs from 2023.In Tests, that number is 744 overs in 30 matches – almost 25 overs in each Test. In other words, 60 percent of all Siraj’s workload came in the format that places the most physical demands on fast bowlers.So while Siraj was increasingly considered expendable in white-ball cricket, he became 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 was carefully managed, played two-thirds.When India toured England in 2025, Siraj became the only Indian seamer to appear 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 lens of the T20I itself. Those matches, frankly, are expendable. What is ahead is not.A long international season. Seventeen ODIs. Ten tests. Preparing for the 2027 World Cup. And like Bumrah before him, India may now be realizing something about Siraj.That the 32-year-old had quietly become too important to risk.Perhaps that explains the recent decisions – to overlook him for the Afghanistan ODI and withdraw him from the England and Ireland T20Is. Given the busy season, this is probably the only window available for him to catch a breather.There is a certain irony in all of this. For most of last year, debates revolved around why Mohammed Siraj became a one-format bowler. The data reveals something very different. Far from being less important, Siraj had quietly become indispensable.

With workload management in mind, should Siraj take precedence over T20Is for Tests?

While India have built their workload management philosophy around Bumrah, Siraj has become the man to bear its consequences. For three years he was India’s all-rounder. Maybe that’s why the words “workload management” finally reached him. Not because his performance has dropped. Not because his body broke down. But because India can no longer afford for either to happen.