Told Litton this is not T20 cricket, play sensibly, reveals Siraj

Soon after scoring 404 in their first innings, India set out to put Bangladesh's batting to the sword on the second day of the first Test at Chattogram. Mohammed Siraj led the pace attack as he got opener Najmul Hossain Shanto for a second golden duck of the series.

He then egged on Litton Das with a barrage of seaming deliveries and few choice words. Litton replied with boundaries and banter which needed the umpires' involvement to separate the pair. After few exchanges, Siraj came out the winner when he bowled a peach which snuck under Litton's bat and took out his stumps.

𝙎𝙞𝙧𝙖𝙟 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙡𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝

The speedster was difficult to contain as he rattled @LittonOfficial's stumps, eventually picking up 3 before the end of Day 2 🤩🔥

Rate @mdsirajofficial's bowling effort from 1️⃣-1️⃣0️⃣?#BANvIND #SonySportsNetwork #MohammedSiraj pic.twitter.com/kdEt38w0ls

— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) December 15, 2022

When asked about the specifics of their verbal battle, Siraj couldn't hide his grin.

"Nothing much. I just said that this is not T20 cricket, so you'll have to play sensible cricket," Siraj revealed in the press conference at the end of day.

Following a good ODI series where he claimed six wickets from three matches, Siraj (3-14) alongside Umesh Yadav (1-33) bamboozled the hosts before left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav (4-33) cleaned up the middle and lower order to have them reeling at 133/8.

"Red-ball cricket has always been my favorite format. Consistently hitting line and lengths with the red ball also helps me when I play white-ball cricket. Today it was not just about one guy, but all our bowlers should credit," Siraj said.

Siraj also used the wobble seam to great effect as the variable bounce offered by the Chattogram pitch compounded Bangladesh's troubles.

"In 2018, I lost the ability to move the ball into batsmen. I was mostly bowling out-swingers. Its easier for batsmen to guess that the ball is moving away from them but it's not the case with the ball moving in. That's when I started working on my wobble seam and I rely on it a lot," Siraj explained.

"My aim was only to keep bowling in good areas. On this wicket, if you try too hard you'll leak runs. I succeeded by consistently hitting the same areas. Bowling on the stumps was crucial here because without width there were more chances of getting an LBW or bowled. There was turn for spinners and movement for seamers," he added.

India added 126 to their overnight score of 278/6 despite losing Shreyas Iyer (86) early in the day. It had a lot to do with the 92-run partnership for the eighth wicket between Ravichandran Ashwin (58) and Kuldeep (40). Siraj felt that the work put in by the bowlers in the nets is paying off.

"These days it is important for a tailender to score runs. We are all putting in the effort in practice and taking the responsibility that we want to score those crucial runs. It's translating well on the field," he said.

India have a first innings lead of 271 runs.