It was a sensational bowling effort as Mohammed Siraj picked his career-best Test figures on the first morning of the 2nd Test match against South Africa at Newlands, Cape Town on 3rd January 2024.
South African captain Dean Elgar won the toss and decided to bat first. Jasprit Bumrah and Siraj troubled the openers Elgar and Markram. Siraj then got the early breakthrough dismissing Markram with a sharp catch by Jaiswal. He then produced a lovely delivery to dismiss captain Elgar taking an inside edge onto the stumps to leave South Africa in trouble.
Jasprit Bumrah then got rid of debutant Tristian Stubbs taking the inside edge to Rohit Sharma at short leg. Siraj dismissed Tony de Zorzi down the leg catch to KL Rahul leaving South Africa in deep trouble. David Bedingham and Kyle Verreyne looked impressive playing some lovely shots. After the first drinks break, Siraj then produced another sensational delivery to dismiss Bedingham caught by Jaiswal at slips.
Siraj produced another lovely delivery dismissing Verryene caught by Gill to pick up 5 wickets and derail the South African batting. He showed his class with another superb delivery getting rid of Jansen in same over to leave hosts in deep trouble.
Mukesh Kumar was included in the playing XI replacing Shardul Thakur. He was brilliant picking wickets of Keshav Maharaj and got rid of Rabada caught by Jaiswal at slips to bowl out South Africa for just 55 runs. Siraj ended with figures of 6 for 15 in 9 overs. He was simply sensational bowling stump to stump line and not allowing the South African batters to score runs easily.
Siraj picked 3rd best figures by an Indian on South African soil in Test matches:
Mohammed Siraj became the 3rd Indian to pick the best figures in an innings on South African soil. Shardul Thakur grabbed 7 for 61 in the first innings at Johannesburg during the 2022 tour.
Harbhajan Singh took 7 for 120 in 38 overs during the first innings of the 3rd Test match at Newlands, Cape Town from 2nd to 6th January 2011.
Mohammed Siraj registered his best test figures picking 5 for 16 in 9 overs. Siraj made his Test debut during the 2nd Test match at Melbourne Cricket Ground, MCG from 26th December 2020. Since then, he has played 21 matches ( 41 innings) and grabbed 67 wickets with 3 five-wicket hauls.
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