Follow UsMohammed Siraj’s tireless bowling in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy and his special fifer in the final innings of the final Test at the Oval have brought him immense praise and adulation from every nook and corner of the cricket-loving world.
India’s leading run-scorer, Sachin Tendulkar’s praise for Siraj was amongst all the great words that are being said and written on the Indian pacer. Tendulkar was seriously impressed by Siraj’s body language and attitude with the ball, and said no batter would like facing a bowler like Siraj because of how ready he is to attack at all instances in a game.
“Unbelievable. Superb approach. I like that attitude. Love the spring in his legs,” Tendulkar said in a video on Reddit, as quoted by the Indian Express.
“If you don’t look at the scoreboard and just look at his body language you will not be able to make out if Siraj has taken 5 wickets or he hasn’t taken any wicket. The body language, attitudes and approach remains the same.
“No batsman likes a fast bowler who is in your face relentlessly. If you go ask Joe Root, who is a world-class player and who has made so many runs, will you prefer facing Siraj or someone who bowls quietly and goes, he will undoubtedly prefer the other, because Siraj is always in my face. That’s what he is about. He has bowled about 1000 deliveries in this series and till the last day his approach, the speeds he bowled in his last few deliveries like 90mph it shows jigar- he has a big heart.”
Tendulkar especially lauded Siraj’s efforts on the fifth day of the Oval Test, where England needed only 35 runs to win with four wickets in hand, and Siraj, along with Prasidh Krishna, bowled India to victory by a slim margin of six runs. This was special because Siraj suffered a heartbreak at Lord’s when he was the last wicket to fall after a hard-fought last day.
“I know when defending at Lord’s he had middled the ball, but there was some stone in front at the pitch and the ball bounced back on to the stumps – it must have been such a setback for him. Also that catch in the final Test (Harry Brook) but his legs touched the ropes. All this happened and I was feeling that he would come up with something special on the last day to kill all these bad things,” Tendulkar remarked.
“And he did. He was remarkable, the way he started on that last day. He has always been instrumental in playing a key role whenever we need him to deliver that knockout punch – he has been able to do it in the past and so was the case in this series. People underplay him, the kind of focus he should have on him, doesn’t get credit that he deserves. I love watching him bowl."