Team India pacer Mohammed Siraj pulled off a great performance in the first innings of the third Test against England on Saturday, February 17 at the Niranjan Shah Cricket Stadium in Rajkot. He expressed that missed watching Jasprit Bumrah’s yorkers in the last test, so he decided to replicate those successfully in this test match.
Mohammed Siraj took crucial wickets in the innings, helping India to take a first-innings lead of 126 runs. He used yorkers effectively, cleaning up Rehan Ahmed with a beauty. The pacer finished the innings with four wickets, conceding 84 runs at an economy rate of four. He had missed the second test as he was rested keeping in mind the workload. Talking at the end of the third day of the third test, Siraj said,
“I did nothing. Was with my family, and I enjoyed it, 5 days I took a break, and then I trained at home. I was missing Jasprit (Bumrah) Bhais yorkers from home, so I thought that I would do it here in Rajkot.”
“There is not much assistance from the surface. The yorker was an option during that time and I got the result that I was looking for,” he added.
We had the responsibility to do well: Mohammed Siraj
Mohammed Siraj further expressed that in Ravichandran Ashwin’s absence, the bowling attack had to take more responsibility. He added that they struck to their strengths and were rewarded with wickets. Mohammed Siraj said,
“With Ash bhai (R Ashwin) not being there we were only four bowlers in the ground. We had the responsibility to do well against their aggressive batting. We told ourselves that we would stick to our lengths and wait for their mistakes.
At stumps on day three, Team India has a lead of 322 runs. They have scored 196 runs for the loss of two wickets in their second innings. Yashasvi Jaiswal slammed a century, before getting retired hurt. Shubman Gill is unbeaten at the crease with 65 runs, while Kuldeep Yadav was sent in as the nightwatchman.
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