The Indian fast bowler Mohammad Siraj rattled the England batting unit on Day 3 of the 3rd test in Rajkot. The guests were cruising along but the Indian bowlers wrapped up the opposition in quick time to get an inaccessible lead in the first innings.
At the end of the day, India was 196/2 thanks to Yashasvi Jaiswal’s incredible century that put India in the driver’s seat in the match.
Mohammad Siraj with a fiery spell
Before the start of the day, India took an unexpected blow as the team lost their frontline spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who withdrew from the remaining part of the test match due to a family emergency. India had a tough task to make a comeback in the match after an onslaught from the English batsmen on Day 2.
England started the day with an overnight score of 207/2. Ben Duckett continued playing his shots, but India’s star bowler Jasprit Bumrah provided a breakthrough early in the first session dismissing Joe Root. Then Kuldeep Yadav turned the innings entirely into India’s hand by picking up Bairstow and Duckett wickets in no time.
After Lunch, Siraj wrapped up the innings by picking up quick wickets with beautiful yorkers. Speaking about his inspiring spell, Mohammad Siraj said, “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. 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.”
When asked about his break during the last match, the Hyderabadi Miyan said, “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.”
Commentator Dinesh Karthik lends his congratulations to Siraj. Siraj thanks Karthik and says, “See you in RCB.”
