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Mumbai | Young India speedster Harshit Rana was on Friday ruled out of the T20 World Cup owing to a knee injury with Mohammed Siraj being named as his replacement.

Rana had sustained the injury in a warm-up game here earlier this week with skipper Suryakumar Yadav admitting that he was "not looking good".

"Siraj, who has played 45 Tests, 50 ODIs and 16 T20Is, was named as a replacement after Rana was ruled out with an injury to his right knee that was sustained during the warm-up game against South Africa on 4 February," the ICC said in a media release late on Friday.

Earlier, Suryakumar's admission was indication enough that head coach Gautam Gambhir's 24-year-old protege was unlikely to recover in time to play any of the matches, starting with the lung-opener against the USA on Saturday.

"Harshit Rana has not been ruled out yet, the physios are assessing him but he does not look good," Suryakumar said at the pre-match press conference.

The Indian captain, however, tried to make light of the setback.

"Don't worry, we have 11 players for tomorrow. But it obviously would be a big blow because you make a squad of 15 after a lot of thought and he was included after some thought process," said Suryakumar.

"But if he is not available going forward, we will then set different combinations. We have enough players and combinations against all teams that we can have for this tournament but if we miss him (for not being available), we will definitely miss him," he added.

Rana could bowl only one over in the warm-up game against South Africa in which he conceded 16 runs and then hobbled off the field with a knee injury.

Although Rana is not a first eleven certainty with an economy rate of 10.60 in nine T20Is, he certainly would have been a handy inclusion in specific conditions. He is also a useful lower-order hitter.

All-rounder Washington Sundar is already looking doubtful with a side strain and rib muscle tear.

"We will see which (other) fast bowlers have done really well for the last one or two years or if there is any bowler who can bat as well," Suryakumar said of available options.

"But there is no hard and fast rule that he can bat, because if you are expecting someone at No.9 or No.10 to come out and hit a six, then what are the other eight (players) doing before him? We will see, we do have a few options but we will pick the best one," he added.