Follow UsIn front of home fans in Hyderabad, Mohammed Siraj had a pretty off day, where he went wicketless, with figures of 0/28 and 0/22 in the two innings. Siraj’s start to the Rajkot Test wasn’t any different either, giving away 44 runs in his first seven overs, a spell where he was mightly ineffective.
But then, the 29-year-old turned this Test around, starting with the wicket of the in-form Ollie Pope, who was undone by a late in-dipper. If not for that wicket, England were going at a healthy rate, at 182/1 in the 30th over.
He was yet again a crucial bowler on day three when he snaffled Ben Foakes before cleaning up the rest of the batting unit with the wickets of Rehan Ahmed and James Anderson, finishing with figures of 4/84.
Siraj spoke about how he had to take ‘more responsibility’ considering India had only four bowlers after Ravichandran Ashwin returned back home for a family emergency.
“We had only four bowlers and we had a responsibility. We knew they would attack so we spoke about sticking together knowing that they would make a mistake. We didn’t plan anything much, we were waiting for them to make a mistake,” Siraj said after the day’s play.
With a long break between the two Tests, Siraj also spoke about how he had watched and visualised Jasprit Bumrah’s yorkers, which he went on to replicate to remove Ahmed.
“I knew the yorker would be a good wicket-taking option. The important role for a bowler is to bowl six dot balls, we know they’re not used to playing out six dots in a row,” he added.
“Enjoyed with my family, then we had training. I did my training and then I even watched the Test match at home, enjoyed watching Bumrah bowling yorkers.”