Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has opined on Mohammed Siraj’s importance for the Indian team over the last few years. He also added that the veteran seamer has bowled more overs than any other Indian pacer across formats over the last couple of years as well. However, India trail England 2-1 in the ongoing series, with the fourth Test slated to take place in Manchester on Wednesday, July 23. With 13 scalps at an average of 32.00 in six innings, Siraj has been the leading wicket-taker across both sides in the first three Tests as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “If you see Siraj’s workload over the last two years (since January 1, 2023), you will have to sit back and admire, and appreciate. If you talk about the fast bowlers across the world, he is in the third spot in terms of the number of overs bowled. Pat Cummins (871.3 overs), Mitchell Starc (856.2 overs) and Mohammed Siraj (792.5 overs) are there in that.”
“When we look at it from the Indian point of view, no one has bowled more overs than him. In fact, if we see overall for India, he is in the second spot, only behind Jaddu. Jaddu (990 overs) has bowled nearly 1000 overs, and he has also bowled close to 800. He bowls a lot of overs,” he further added.
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“Ryan ten Doeschate also said that we don’t talk about Siraj enough, but we are fortunate to have him in the team. He gives everything he has. He doesn’t hold back anything. It’s a blessing. If you look at it from a captain’s perspective, many times in Tests, you look towards your bowlers, and fast bowlers turn their backs at times. Mohammed Siraj is not one of them,” he again shared.
However, Aakash Chopra also stated that Mohammed Siraj is overshadowed by Jasprit Bumrah quite a few times, stating that other batters weren’t noticed enough when they played along with the veterans like Sachin Tendulkar and
Virat Kohli.
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“Not all bowlers might be as skillful as Bumrah, and at times, when you are with Bumrah, you aren’t noticed despite being skillful. You will look inferior whenever you are with an all-time great. Then people will dismiss you. It would have seemed like that when people were playing with Sachin paaji and Virat,” he said.
“That does not mean the guy is not good. He is skillful. Sometimes a bowler like Siraj is dependent on others. If you look at Bumrah, he gets a lot of dismissals bowled. Siraj’s best wicket-taking method is caught by others. If he doesn’t get that help, like Jamie Smith’s catch was dropped, the poor guy keeps bowling, but is unable to pick up those many wickets,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
