The veteran Indian spinner, Ravichandran Ashwin was impressed with his teammate, Mohammed Siraj’s stellar performance at Lord’s. Siraj, who made his Test debut against Australia last year, bowled his career’s best spell in the second Test against England at Lord’s. He finished the game with a match haul of eight wickets and duly missed to feature his name on the Lord’s honors board as he picked four wickets in both of his innings.
Siraj’s second innings spell turned out to be a match-winning one as he managed to take crucial wickets like Moeen Ali and Jos Buttler looked comfortably settled at the crease. Siraj got the wickets of Ali and Sam Curran on successive deliveries on Day 5 which helped India make a comeback in the game. Ashwin, in a cheeky manner, said that at one stage it looked like only Siraj and wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant were playing as Moeen was leaving all the balls.
ALSO READ: Neighbors Of Mohammed Siraj Erect His Huge Cut-out In Hyderabad
During a recent chat with fielding coach, R Sridhar, Ravichandran Ashwin said, “You got Siraj into the team telling he’s a fast bowler right? Then why is he bowling fast off-breaks? He’s running in from the slope and his cutters are like off-breaks. His bowling to Moeen Ali was exceptional. Rishabh Pant and Siraj alone played cricket for 2 overs (because Moeen kept playing and missing).”
Siraj bowled Buttler a back-of-length delivery outside off which the batsman nicked behind the stumps and three balls later he cleaned up James Anderson’s stump as India won by 151 runs at Lord’s. Sridhar said that Siraj is using the red-ball as his new toy where he rolls his fingers on it.
ALSO READ: Muttiah Muralitharan Feels MS Dhoni Came at No.5 On WC 2011 FInal Because Of Him
Talking to Ravichandran Ashwin, R Sridhar said, “He’s bowling scrambled seam only. He’s rolling his fingers on the ball because it’s like a newfound toy for him. What energy man! Infectious! Kept on charging in and bowled brilliantly using the slope. If left-handers found him, they had no chance.”
