Follow UsWith 13 wickets in 3 Tests, Mohammed Siraj is the highest wicket-taker of the ongoing England-India series so far but what’s often overlooked is just how much he bowls. Siraj has bowled 109 overs in this series so far, 23 more than any other Indian pacer. He’s bowled 266.1 overs since the start of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy - the most among all Indian bowlers - and is also the only Indian bowler to play all eight Tests during this period.
Ahead of the fourth Test at Old Trafford, team India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate was full of praise for Siraj, the ultimate workhorse of the side.
"I think we sort of take for granted our luck to have someone like that,” ten Doeschate said, reported Cricbuzz.
“I know he doesn't always have the returns that you expect from a fast bowler, but in terms of heart, he's like a lion and what he brings to this bowling attack, whenever he does have the ball in hand you always feel like something's going to happen.
"He's not someone who's going to shy away from workload, so it makes it even more important for us to manage his workload and make sure that he's at least fit to give his best.”
The prospect of Siraj being rested for Old Trafford, however, looks very unlikely given Arshdeep Singh has sustained an untimely finger injury. Ten Doeschate confirmed that Arshdeep has a cut in his finger, and asserted that the left-arm pacer will be assessed by the medical team over the next 48 hours or so.
"Yeah, he took a ball while he was bowling there, he tried to stop it and it's just a cut,” ten Doeschate said of Arshdeep.
“So we have to see how bad the cut is. Obviously the medical team have taken him off to see a doctor. And obviously if he needs stitches or doesn't need stitches, that's going to be important to our planning for the next few days.”
Ten Doeschate confirmed that Pant should be fit enough to play at least as a specialist batter at Old Trafford, but insisted that the management will have to see whether he’ll be fit enough to don the gloves as well.
"He batted with quite a lot of pain in the third Test and it's only going to get easier and easier on his finger. 'Keeping is obviously the last part of the process to make sure that he can keep. We don't want to go through that again where we have to replace the keeper halfway through an innings,” he said of Pant.
"But yeah, he rested today. We're just trying to give the finger as long as possible and hopefully he's good to go in Manchester. Jurel is in the equation but obviously if Rishabh's fit he comes in and does both.”