With 18 wickets in the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy between India and England, Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj is currently leading the wickets charts in the series. With fellow Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah not playing in the fifth test at The Oval and being released from the Indian team as confirmed by BCCI on Friday, Siraj has been leading the Indian pace attack at The Oval. Post the second day of the fifth Test, Siraj, who took four wickets in England’s first innings, shared what conversation he had with Bumrah not playing the final Test and how Bumrah had assured him.
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“I asked Jassi bhai, ‘Why are you going? Who will I hug when I take five wickets?’ He said, ‘I’m here, you take your five wickets!,” Siraj told BCCI.tv.
With his four-wicket haul on Friday, Siraj became only the first Asian pacer in 29 years to complete six four-wickets or more hauls in Tests in England. It also meant that Siraj broke Bunch’s earlier record of five such hauls and became only the second Asian pacer after Pakistan’s Waqar Younis with six such hauls in England. Siraj now has 41 wickets in 11 Test matches in England with an average of 34.73. He now has 118 wickets in xx Test matches with an average of 31.49 and Friday saw the Indian pacer taking his seventh four-wicket haul. The 31-year-old pacer also had taken 94 Test wickets in 26 away Tests in his career at an average of 30.05. “Everybody likes to play in England because there is more swing and wickets are more helpful for fast bowlers. It feels good to be the highest wicket-taker in the series so far but then if we win the match, it will be then the highlight for me,” added Siraj.
After Indian openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley put together a partnership of 92 runs, Indian bowlers led by Siraj and Prasidh Krishna restricted England to a first innings’ total of 247 runs. While Siraj accounted for the wickets of Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook and Jacob Bethell, Krishna would account for the fall of Zak Crawley. Jamie Smith, Jamie Overton and Gus Atkinson with Akash Deep too accounting for the fall of Ben Duckett. Siraj also talked about the comeback by the Indian bowling unit on the second day of The Oval Test. “We made a comeback after such a bad session. As a fast bowler, it feels good to make such a comeback. When the responsibility is handed, then there is fun and I talk with my fellow bowlers and tell them what to do and what not to do. My only mindset since my childhood is that I should give my 100 percent, whatever the result is,” said Siraj.
Praish Krishna too talked about his camaraderie with Bumrah and shared how each one of the bowling unit enjoy each other’s success. “Booms (Bumrah) has been a great part of this. I think it’s really important for us to enjoy each other’s success, to have that rapport off the field, so when you’re on the field, speaking to each other, you have that trust. Only that is going to make the team better,” Krishna told BCCI.tv.
