Sunil Gavaskar, former India cricketer, has said that Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj should be dropped from the Indian team as he has failed to perform in the ongoing BGT 2024.

Siraj, who was a key element in the 2021 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series victory, has not performed well in the current series, taking 13 wickets in seven innings and not being aggressive enough with the new ball, putting further pressure on Jasprit Bumrah.

"I think Siraj, perhaps, needs a little bit of a break. In the sense, that I am not saying a break, he needs to be told that he is left out of the team for non-performance. There has to be a situation where you can't beat around the bush.

You need to be brutally upfront and say 'Look, your performance has not been up to scratch, and therefore you are being dropped.' When you start talking about 'rest,' players get the wrong ideas. They feel they don't need to up their game," Gavaskar told Star Sports.

Mohammed Siraj has 13 wickets in the ongoing 4 Tests with a best of 4/98 at a strike rate of 49.

Siraj has also topped the list of frontline pacers who have conceded the most runs per over in the series, with an average of 4.07 runs. He was completely off his game in the ongoing Boxing Day Test match, conceding 122 runs in 23 overs and not taking a single wicket in the first innings.

Gavaskar has asked for either the return of Harshit Rana, who played in the first two Tests or the inclusion of Prasidh Krishna in the playing XI for the fifth and final Test in Sydney.

"But I think Siraj needs to be told 'Look, you are not bowling as well as we expected you to on pitches that have been helpful'. That is something that needs to be told. If you want to make two changes. Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana to support Jasprit Bumrah. By all means, do that," he added.

(IANS inputs)