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LONDON: India fast bowler Mohammed Siraj has shared his thoughts on Harry Brook’s dropped catch after his match-winning performance in the final Test against England here at The Oval on Monday.
Mohammed Siraj was pivotal in India’s thrilling six-run victory in the fifth Test and was the leading wicket-taker of the series with 23 wickets.
A day earlier, Siraj was at the receiving end when he dropped England’s ace batter Harry Brook while he was batting on 19 runs.
The right-handed batter went on to score his 10th Test century, which at that time looked like England had taken the game away from India.
During the post-match presentation, Siraj expressed his emotions on the drop catch and revealed the motivation behind his stellar performance.
“I cannot describe my feelings. After yesterday’s incident, I thought the match was gone. Had we got Harry Brook out before lunch, things would have been different, ” he said after being named as the P
“There would have been no fifth day. That was a game-changing moment. But we came back strongly after that,” he remarked.
Siraj stated that he had believed in himself and had ambitions of changing the game.
“When I woke up this morning, I told myself I would change the game. I opened Google, downloaded a ‘believe’ image, and put that as my phone wallpaper.”
“My only plan was to bowl consistently at one spot and to move the ball in and out from there. I didn’t want to try too much because that could have released the pressure. From day one to today, every Test went to the fifth day. So hats off to everyone in the squad for the way they fought,” he revealed.
Siraj, who was instrumental in India’s series-levelling efforts, also shed light on the Lord’s Test drama, where he was cleaned up despite middling the ball, resulting in the visitors losing by 22 runs.
“It was a heartbreaking moment,” Siraj said. “Jaddu [Ravindra Jadeja] bhai was telling me not to overthink and focus on middling every ball. He told me to think about my father and how hard I have worked to get here. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen,” Mohammed Siraj concluded.
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