India’s star pacer Mohammed Siraj who bagged his 2nd five wickets haul in the Test format credited his achievement to the team’s Strength and Conditioning coach Soham Desa and says “It is not easy to take five wickets on a flat track”.
Siraj on his 2nd Test Five Wicket haul
Siraj who currently remains part of the Indian Test squad for the West Indies series bagged just 2 wickets in the 1st Test game where India won by an innings and 141 runs.
Ahead of the 2nd Test, based on the pitch report our team predicted that pace bowlers will make an impact in Queen’s Park Oval. Fast bowlers’ performances in the 2nd Test proved our level of prediction.
Mohammed Siraj bowled 23.4 overs and bagged 5 wickets which includes 6 maiden overs at an economy of 2.50. Notably, this 5 wicket haul becomes his best bowling record in a Test inning.
Speaking on his achievement, Siraj praised India’s Strength and Conditioning coach Soham Desai who worked tirelessly on Siraj’s fitness.
“It is not easy to take five wickets on a flat track. Credit goes to Soham (Desai) bhai, who has worked tirelessly on my fitness. I have been playing matches continuously and he makes sure that I stay fit. It was hot and humid and because of the rain, we were going on and off the field, it is difficult for a fast bowler to keep himself in charge. It is not easy to bowl long spells in such condition also,” Mohammed Siraj said after the end of Day four’s play.
“I executed my plan nicely, especially when it started to reverse. There was nothing much happening, so I planned to bowl stumps to stumps. Plan was simple to not give them easy runs and keep things simple. I relish responsibilities. To step in on the field with a responsibility on my shoulders gives me extra motivation and it is challenging as well and I like to accept challenges,” he said.
Speaking of the match, the hosts won the toss and opted to bowl first. India in their 1st inning scored 438 runs for 10 wickets loss with Virat’s 76th century. Indian openers Jaiswal and Rohit scored 139 runs for the 1st wicket and laid a decent foundation for the team.
Holder broke the partnership by dismissing Jaiswal for 57 runs soon Warrican dismissed the Indian skipper for 80 runs. While Gill and Rahane depart cheaply, Virat and Jadeja made a 159 runs partnership and pushed India beyond 300 runs mark.
With Ashwin’s 56 runs, India scored 438 runs at the end of their first inning. On the other hand, West Indies failed to build a strong opening partnership and lost their first wicket for 71 runs.
Ravindra Jadeja bagged the first wicket and broke the partnership while debutant Mukesh Kumar dismissed Kirk McKenzie for 32 runs and bagged his first international wicket. While Siraj dismantled West Indies’ middle and lower-order batters for a single-digit score and ended West Indies’ first inning for 255 runs.
India in their 2nd inning scored 181 runs for 2 wickets loss and declared the game where Ishan Kishan scored his first Test half-century. At the end of Day 4, West Indies scored 76 runs for 2 wickets loss and were in need of 289 runs for victory.
Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Jermaine Blackwood stand at the crease on behalf of West Indies with the score of 24 and 20 respectively. Ashwin who recently becomes the third Indian player to bag 700 international wickets dismissed Kraigg Brathwaite and Kirk McKenzie for 28 and 0 runs respectively in the WI’s second inning.
