Mohammed Siraj’s 6-wicket haul against England in the second Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at Edgbaston revealed an interesting stat: he does better when he doesn’t bowl with Jasprit Bumrah.
In Tests where he bowled with Bumrah, Siraj took 69 wickets in 33 games, including one 5-wicket haul, at 33.82. But in Tests without Bumrah, he picked up 39 wickets in 15 games at 25.20. His 6/70 helped India restrict England to 407/10 in the 2nd innings (180 runs behind India). That was the third time he has taken 5 or more wickets in an innings without Bumrah.
I waited so long for this. I’ve been bowling well but not getting wickets. I’ve only got 4-wicket hauls here, so getting 6 is special, Siraj told reporters after the 3rd day’s play. The wicket was slow, but when I was given the job to lead the attack, I didn’t try to do too much. I just tried to bowl in the right areas and with control. My aim was to keep things tight and not give away runs.
With Bumrah resting to manage his workload, India brought in Akash Deep to bowl with Siraj and Prasidh Krishna. While Krishna struggled again, Deep also picked up 4 wickets. But Siraj, from Hyderabad, was the leader of the attack, both in terms of his accuracy and how he spoke to the other bowlers.
It’s Akash Deep’s 3rd or 4th game and same for Prasidh, so I focused on being consistent and creating pressure. I feel like trying new things but I have to stay consistent. I like having responsibility and I like the challenge, Siraj said.
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Bumrah will return for the 3rd Test at Lord’s.
India finished the day at 64/1 with Karun Nair and KL Rahul still batting after Yashasvi Jaiswal’s wicket for 28. India were 244 ahead and hoped to score at least 400 more on the 4th day.We are doing well now but we want to score as many runs as possible because we know they will come hard at us, Siraj said. The wicket is getting slower every day. If you bowl in one area and start giving away runs, it’s hard to stop. We saw that with Smith and Brook. Patience is key here.
