Follow UsMohammed Siraj had middled the ball from Shoaib Bashir that eventually trickled down and hit his stumps. With that, India's lower order’s extremely strong fightback came to an end as India failed to chase a 193-run total and lost the third Test at Lord’s by 22 runs.
Speaking in the press conference ahead of the fourth Test at Old Trafford, Siraj revealed that he didn’t even feel like he would get out that day. So when his stumps were broken despite middling the ball, it really shattered him, and it took quite some time for him to get back to normal.
“Obviously, I was very sad. In that kind of match, to get out after middling — like I had a partnership with Jaddu bhai, I felt like I won’t get out,” Siraj said.
“The way I was batting, I had that confidence that I can’t get out here. Whatever happens, it will be my own mistake. But unfortunately, even after middling, I got out. It was very heartbreaking. Because if we had won that match, the result would’ve been totally different.”
Siraj added that the pain and regret from the loss stayed for a long time with him, as had India won the game, it would have been 2-1 in favour of India in the five-Test series. However, that fightback showed that the Indian lower order is keen to contribute with runs, and Siraj heeded to it as well.
“It stayed for a long time. Because the match was like that. In 2021 too, I took the last wicket. Then again, to be in that situation, I’m a very emotional person. Because in such a situation when I got out — I mean, if we had won, the series would be 2-1,” the Indian pacer said.
“But at that time, Jaddu bhai fought so well, even Jassi bhai played 54 balls. Such a fight but in the end, it was a loss. After so much hard work, I thought, no, the series isn’t over yet, it’s still 2-1. That gave me a boost that I’ll do even better and focus on my batting.
“Because when we go overseas, runs from tailenders are very important. Even when we went to Australia last two times, we always thought that as much as possible, we should make runs from the bottom. So since then we are working hard on our batting.”
The fourth Test begins July 23 in Manchester.