Team India pacer Akash Deep expressed that Mohammed Siraj’s series-winning performance in the 2025 Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy was not his finest. Siraj finished the five-match series as the top wicket-taker with 23 wickets, playing all matches and earning the player of the match award in the crucial series-levelling victory at The Oval.
With Jasprit Bumrah managing workload concerns and injury troubles impacting bowlers like Akash Deep and Arshdeep Singh, Siraj took on a major role, delivering a total of 185.3 overs, the most by any bowler throughout the series.
The right-arm pacer troubled English batsmen with movement and intensity on flat pitches, but Akash Deep feels Siraj has bowled better and that this wasn’t his best career performance.
“He is different. If you put that kind of an effort, the result will definitely come. As far as I have been with the team, I would not say this was Siraj’s absolute best. But Siraj’s mindset in this series was different, because he was always talking to us, always telling us to keep believing.”
He kept saying, ‘We have to do this, we have to do this, we have to keep believing, the three of us have to do this’,” Akash Deep said in a interview with RevSportz.
Akash Deep credited his bowling partner for motivating him and the bowling unit, especially during tough moments.
“Sometimes, the way that they bat, where they step out and hit you here and there, the confidence gets hit. It’s not like T20 where I can bowl a yorker or a slower one. Sometimes doubts start creeping is as to what can be done? But even in those phases, he was saying,’We have to keep bowling in good areas. It is a good ball, let them hit, they will be out that way’,” Akash Deep added.
“Everyone fought hard from Day One during the England tour”- Mohammed Siraj
Mohammed Siraj has become a key pillar of India’s bowling lineup, particularly as the team shifts away from Mohammad Shami. Serving as the second seamer and frequently leading the attack in Jasprit Bumrah’s absence, he has made a significant impact and established himself as a seasoned and trusted member of the squad.
“From Day One till here, everyone fought hard, and then this result, we are very, very happy. The plan is simple, to keep it consistently in the right areas, and everything would take care of itself! I woke up, took a photo out of Google, saying ‘Believe’, and stuck to it! That dropped catch was a critical moment, had I taken that catch, it would be done much earlier,” Siraj had said during the post-match presentation after the fifth Test.
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