ENG vs IND: “It’s for haters” – Mohammed Siraj on his ‘finger on lips’ celebration style

ENG vs IND: “It’s for haters” – Mohammed Siraj on his ‘finger on lips’ celebration style

Mohammed Siraj

Mohammed Siraj has emerged as India’s one of the top finds of recent times since his Test debut against Australia earlier this year. The 27-year-old has turned out to be a dependable pick for skipper Virat Kohli while bringing him into the bowling attack.

Talking about his recent performance, Siraj claimed four crucial scalps during the ongoing second Test match against England at the Lord’s Cricket Ground, London. This included the wickets of Dominic Sibley, Haseeb Hameed, Jonny Bairstow, and Ollie Robinson. As a result, India restricted their opponents to 391 while conceding a 27-run lead. 

At the end of day three’s play, Siraj opened up on his famous ‘finger on lips’ celebration. During the post stumps virtual press conference, he said:

“The celebration style is for haters (critics), as they used to say a lot of things about me, that I cannot do this thing…So I thought of answering them with my ball.” 

Siraj sheds light on Indian bowlers’ plans during the second Test

Mohammed Siraj
Mohammed Siraj

The Hyderabad speedster reckoned that fast bowlers play a significant role in England and it’s important to bowl at consistent lengths. Mohammed Siraj was seen maintaining accuracy on most of the occasions and hence, he reaped the fruits of those efforts.

“Fast bowlers play an important role in England. We were bowling at consistent lengths. Our plan was to bowl consistently at one length. I was looking to bowl at one spot consistently even during my Ranji Trophy days. My simple plan was to not try much hit at one spot consistently,” he added.

Mohammed Siraj went on to mention that the pitch didn’t have much to offer the bowlers and that’s why the Indian pacers opted for short balls to try and break the resilience of English batsmen. 

“The wicket wasn’t helping that much so we planned to use a bouncer as after the next eight overs, a new ball would have been taken. So the plan was to bowl short balls,” Siraj signed off.

The youngster has picked 23 Test wickets in 13 innings thus far in his career, including the historic fifer at The Gabba.

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