“I was on the masseur’s table and did not watch Jaiswal’s knock. I will watch the highlights,” said Siraj in a lighter vein
Mohd Siraj (right) celebrates dismissing Ben Foakes of England in Rajkot on Saturday. Pic/Getty Images
Mohammed Siraj was taking a well-deserved massage when young Yashasvi Jaiswal took on the England bowlers to race to 104 before retiring hurt with back spasms.
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“I was on the masseur’s table and did not watch Jaiswal’s knock. I will watch the highlights,” said Siraj in a lighter vein.
On a serious note, Siraj said: “His confidence is very high. He made a double hundred in Vizag. He is totally focussed on what lies ahead and is carrying that confidence. The message from the team is that he should continue the way he has been doing.”
Siraj emerged India’s best bowler in England’s first innings, taking 4-84, bowling a lengthy spell of 11.1-1-30-3 on either side of lunch on Saturday. Further split, he bowled 6-0-18-0 before lunch and 5.1-1-12-3 post lunch, bringing the English innings to a premature close.
Also Read: Wah, Jaiswal!
“We didn’t bowl badly. They were hitting shots off good balls as well. In the morning, when we got to know that Ash bhai [Ashwin] is not here, more responsibility fell on us. Rohit bhai told us that we will need to bowl long spells and I love bowling long spells. For a fast bowler in Test match cricket, one cannot set up a batsman in three-four overs. We got success due to long spells. We stopped runs and got wickets,” Siraj said at the end of the day’s play.
“Since we were one bowler short, the remaining four bowlers had to bowl long spells. If you bowl long spells, you should not try much, but be consistent with line and length. They are not used to defending all six balls [in an over]. If they have defended two, they are going to attack the third. I only want our bowlers to keep their plans simple and bowl dot balls,” he added.
Siraj was happy to talk about the yorker that dismissed Rehan Ahmed. “It is a flat and slow wicket, and we had to plan. So, we talked to the captain and planned that if we don’t get wickets, we should make the batsmen think whether the bowler is bowling a bouncer or a slower one and confuse him. I planned the yorker, executed it well and got a wicket. The momentum shifted towards us. It is a proud feeling for a fast bowler to get the wicket with a yorker.”
With India sitting pretty with a 322-run lead, Siraj felt “the ball will keep a little low on the fourth day. I cannot say anything a about this wicket. The more you bowl at the stumps, more likely you are to get success. If you bowl wide, you may leak runs and the team will come under pressure,” said the 29-year-old.
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