Dinesh Karthik, the former Indian cricketer, shared an interesting behind the scenes story about the Player of the Series (POTS) selection after the Oval Test ended on Monday.
Karthik said that initially after the 4th day of play, Brendon McCullum, the England coach, was favouring Shubman Gill for the award. McCullum apparently told Mike Atherton, the English broadcaster who was going to host the presentation, that Gill would be the man of the series if the match ended on Day 4. Preparations were already in place, including questions for Gill.
On Cricbuzz, Karthik said if the match had ended on Day 4, Shubman Gill would have been a certainty for the award. Brendon McCullum also agreed that Shubman Gill was the deserving one. Mike Atherton had prepared all the questions for Shubman Gill.
The dynamics changed quickly after Mohammed Siraj’s match winning spell helped India level the series. Karthik said that within 30-40 minutes of the match ending, McCullum had changed his mind to Mohammed Siraj. McCullum even spoke about Siraj’s bowling in the post match interview with Sky Sports.
McCullum praised Siraj’s abilities. He said Siraj was an energetic fast bowler. He said every time Siraj had the ball, he bowled with full energy. McCullum said it was a spell that changed the series and it did.
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Siraj had a good second innings and took 5 wickets. He took 9 wickets in the match and 23 in the series. Gill scored the most runs with 754, which is the second highest for an Indian in an away series.
Karthik said Siraj’s ability to step up and win India the two Tests where Jasprit Bumrah wasn’t playing means he can move beyond the senior bowler. Karthik said in a series where the bat dominated the ball, the players work hard. He said this boy ran every day of the series and when he got the ball he gave it his all. He said when Bumrah was not around Siraj stepped up and showed what was needed to win the game. Since Bumrah is a genius people rely on him. The fact is when he was not around Siraj stepped up and showed what it takes to win.
