Follow UsMohammed Siraj raised the heat on-field at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad after he cleaned up Indian skipper Rohit Sharma’s stumps with a brilliant delivery that floored the veteran batter.
Chasing 197 against the Gujarat Titans, Rohit smashed two consecutive fours to Siraj in the first over of the second innings. However, both deliveries were full and bowled seam up.
Siraj changed his modus operandi on the next delivery and bowled a scrambled seam delivery that pitched on a length and jagged back in sharply to evade Rohit’s bat and disturb the woodwork behind him.
This dismissal has come on the back of Siraj finally opening up about the justification given by Indian skipper Rohit for dropping him from the Champions Trophy squad. India played with only three specialist pacers in the tournament in Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana and Mohammed Shami.
Siraj’s snub from the squad had raised many questions about whether India’s young and out-of-touch pace bowling attack would be able to win them the trophy, but as it turned out, the spinners and spin allrounders did that job.
The Indian skipper said before the tournament,” Siraj's effectiveness comes down a little bit if he's not going to take the new ball. We discussed it at length, and we are only taking three seamers there because we wanted all the all-rounders with us.
“It's an unfortunate thing that he [Siraj] has to miss out, but we had no option but to get the guys who can perform a certain role,” Rohit added.
Ahead of the 18th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Siraj had rebutted those claims of his old ball ineffectiveness and said that his record is one of the best with the old ball in the world.
“I have taken the most wickets with the old ball in the past year among the world's 10 fastest bowlers. My economy rate is also low. The numbers speak for themselves. I have performed well with both the new and old ball,” Siraj said in a press conference.
Siraj also mentioned in that press interaction that he is not thinking about his Indian team selection and the upcoming England tour and Asia Cup that will happen after the IPL. He is just focusing on doing well for his new franchise, Gujarat Titans.
“Look, selection is not in my hands,” Siraj said.
“I have only a cricket ball in my hands and I wanted to do as much as I can with that. I don't want to put pressure on myself thinking about selection, as I want to focus on my performance.
"Yeah, as a player, it remains in the back of your mind that there is a tour of England and the Asia Cup, but I don't really seriously think about it, as my focus is on IPL and doing well for Gujarat Titans and helping them win another IPL title."