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Image Credit - Times Of India[/caption]Ravi Shastri has tweeted praising Mohammed Siraj for his stellar show and shoring up the bowling attack Down Under. His brilliant performance has helped the Indian team to clinch the Border-Gavaskar trophy for the second consecutive time. The 26-year –old Siraj was an integral part of the title triumph and finished the series as the highest wicket-taker as he went on to claim 13 wickets in the 3 tests that he played. His great show also included a single five-wicket haul.
Siraj’s name appeared in the Indian squad against England at home for the first two tests and it was quite a natural selection after his impressive show. The pacer from Hyderabad is all set to go at full-throttle against the English. The opening tests against the Three Lions are going to be played at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai from the 5th of February.
Siraj spoke to media outlets and said that he wants to perform at his best for the country and wants to clinch a victory against the English side in the same way he performed against the mighty Aussies. He got a big opportunity in the Australian series and he is very confident to carry on with the great work against the English team.
He also added that he learned a lot from the series Down Under from net sessions to sharing dressing rooms and imbibed a lot from seniors like Rohit, Shami, Ajinkya Rahane, Pujara, and also from the head coach Ravi Shastri. He also stressed using this knowledge against the English team.
Siraj had the opportunity in Australia to rub his shoulders with the likes of senior bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, and Mohammed Shami, and by the time India played their last test at Brisbane he has already become the pace spearhead.
At different stages of the test series, Bumrah, Umesh and Shami suffered injuries but whenever Siraj needed any guidance, they were available and especially at Brisbane in the fourth test.
Siraj made his debut at the Boxing Day test match in the Melbourne Test after senior pacer for India, Mohammed Shami was ruled out of the entire series as he had a fractured wrist. In his first outing, he took five wickets, 2 and 3 wickets respectively in the first and second innings as India managed to win the test match and leveled the series 1-1. In the Sydney test match, he took two wickets and the match resulted in a draw.
The Brisbane test match was crucial and magnificent resilience was showed by Siraj as he went on to bag his first five-wicket haul as he played a vital role in the historic series-clinching win by India.
Siraj said that he is very happy about his performance and he has got more things to learn from Bumrah, Shami, and Umesh and is very excited about bowling along with Indian pace spearhead Ishant Sharma.
