Sunil Gavaskar has lauded Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami for doing hard work in the nets and not listening to bio-mechanics experts who advise seamers to bowl limited deliveries during practice as well. However, Siraj registered figures of 2/91 in India’s innings defeat in the Boxing Day Test against South Africa in Centurion but he bounced back to return figures of 6/15 in the second Test in Cape Town, helping India register a seven-wicket win.

During a discussion on Star Sports, Gavaskar said: “You also need to put in the effort and he works extremely hard. I have seen Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj practicing a lot. Mohammed Shami is not playing currently because he is injured but it’s certain that once he is fit, he will go to the nets and bowl continuously.”

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The former India captain added: “They disagree with bio-mechanics experts who say that only 18-20 balls should be bowled. They know that being a fast bowler, you need to bowl. In the last match, he bowled a little further up and resultantly runs were scored against him with drives. He adjusted his length slightly and got six wickets.”

However, Mohammed Siraj was awarded the Player of the Match for his match-winning first-innings spell. He also dismissed Aiden Markram, who was threatening to win the game for his side. And, Irfan Pathan applauded the skills that he brings to the table.

“He has amazing skills. Everyone is not capable of doing that. He can flick the wrist, which Siraj usually does when he bowls outswing. But in the first innings, it was noticed that he was trying not to flick the wrist a lot. He was trying to hit the seam straight because of which he was getting late movement. He was trying a little more in the second innings (on Day 1) as he knew the morning session had elapsed and that he had to do a little work with the hand. So we got to see the flick,” he added.