Didn’t Feel Tired, I Could Have Played Another Test In England: Mohammed Siraj

Mohammed Siraj has been a workhorse for India over the past few years, and he finally received the recognition he deserved for his relentless efforts during the five-match Test series in England earlier this year.

Siraj’s performances were particularly praised because Jasprit Bumrah had to manage his workload and played only three of the five Tests - featuring in the first, third, and fourth matches while sitting out the second and fifth. 

In Bumrah’s absence, Siraj stepped up magnificently, finishing the series as the leading wicket-taker with 23 wickets at an average of 32.43, including one four-wicket haul and two five-wicket hauls. He was the only Indian pacer to play in all five matches, bowling a marathon 185.3 overs.

“Shubman Gill asked me, ‘Kaisi hai teri body?’ [How is your body?]. I said, ‘Ekdum first-class’. He asked me if I would play. I said yes. He said, you are the main bowler for us, like Jasprit Bumrah, you decide. I said I’m available and am 100 percent fit. I will give it everything,” Siraj told The Indian Express.

“As for my body being tired, to be honest, I would have played one more Test if it was there. I didn’t feel tired. But I was in a zone. When you enter that zone, you don’t know what you are doing, but just have that feeling that I have to do something here.”

Even with the bat, Siraj put up a tremendous fight in the final innings of the third Test at Lord’s before getting dismissed in a heartbreaking manner. He and Ravindra Jadeja took India closer to the target, but with only 22 runs needed, Siraj defended a ball that rolled back onto the stumps, leaving him distraught.

However, Siraj had a happy ending in the series when he struck in the final Test at Kennington Oval. He dismissed England’s last man with only seven runs needed to win, helping the young Indian team claim a thrilling six-run victory and level the series 2-2.

“It was a script written for me from somewhere up there. From getting bowled in Lord's [the Test that India lost], then reaching Oval. Then I took a catch [of Harry Brook] and touched the boundary. Everything was written for me. It was a script from God. When I woke up on that final morning, they needed 35 runs,” Siraj recalled.

“I told myself that this game wouldn’t go beyond an hour and that I will win this match. The match was to start at 11 am and the team bus would leave by 9 am. I woke up at 6 am! I asked myself, ‘Why did I wake up so early today?’ I had woken up suddenly. After that, I wrote down, ‘I can do this, win the game’. When the ball came out of my hand, the execution was exactly how I was thinking; it’s a good sign. God had written, ‘Ja hero ban ja tu, become a hero’.”