Mohammed Siraj expressed ‘belief in himself’ as what was the guiding factor for his match-winning effort on the final day of the Oval Test. He also shed light on the mental stress after having put down Harry Brook’s post, in which the batter single-handedly took the game away from the grip of the Indians.
The India vs England Anderson-Tendulkar trophy ended in a well-deserved tie between the two teams as the two captains, Ben Stokes and Shubman Gill, shared the trophy. Indian skipper Shubman Gill was named as the Indian player of the series, as picked by the English head coach, while Gautam Gambhir picked Harry Brook as the English Player of the Series.
Right after the game ended, Indian cricketer-turned-commentator Dinesh Karthik was seen on the ground with the mic for a short interview of India’s hero, Mohammed Siraj, for his stunning effort on the morning of Day 5.
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Mohammed Siraj’s short yet crisp interview with Dinesh Karthik reveals the player’s lowest moment in the Oval Test
After the match ended with Mohammed Siraj’s breathtaking delivery that knocked off Gus Atkinson’s off-stump and led India to a memorable victory in the history of red-ball cricket. The game was no less than a T20 game, with the amount of anticipation built around the final session of the English innings.
When DK caught up with Mohammed Siraj to inquire about his feelings after pulling off the magnificent win, he seemed to have opened his heart out in front of his former RCB teammate.
Siraj responded instantaneously, saying, “I was just thinking that I should bowl in the right areas. To be honest, I didn’t think that I would take the (Brook) catch and step on the rope. It was a match-changing moment. Yes, I always believed in myself that I will do it for the team.”
He revealed how much the missed opportunity to dismiss Harry Brook had affected him, especially since Brook took command of the English innings with his wayward hits. But he gathered confidence, and the outcome of it is right in front.
“I woke up today; I believed that I could do it,” Mohammed Siraj portrays a determined attitude
After the on-ground celebrations and the friendly shake of hands between the Indian and the English players, who together have made us witness the most thrilling cricket action over the course of the last one month, Mohammed Siraj was called in to take the Player of the Match award.
Yashasvi Jaiswal played a stunning knock of 118 runs for India, and Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar put on crucial runs with vital half-centuries towards the back end of the innings, and Prasidh Krishna also picked up 8 wickets in the game.
But after what everyone witnessed this morning, no other player than Mohammed Siraj deserved the Player of the Match award more than him. He was questioned there as well, to which he said:
“To be honest, it feels amazing. We wanted to fight hard from Day 1, and to see this result is great. The plan was to keep it simple and hit one spot.”
“When I woke up today, I believed that I could do it. It took a photo from Google and put it as my wallpaper that I could do it,” Siraj reflected on his self-belief.
Siraj’s honest take on the Harry Brook fumble: “If I had taken that (Brook) catch properly, probably we may not have had to come today. But Brook played really well. It was a heartbreaking moment (on Lord’s Test). He was just telling me to middle the ball. Remember you Father and the hard work you have put in to get here.”
Shubman Gill named India’s Player of the Series
The England coach, Brendon McCullum, was tasked with the role of picking the Player of the Series from India. Considering his great record of scoring 4 hundreds in the series and a pile of runs, which totalled 754, Indian skipper Shubman Gill was picked as the Player of the Series.
The Englishmen also acknowledged the stunning performances of KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, and Mohammed Siraj, who ended the series as the highest wicket-taker in the 5-match Test series. Sirah was the pick among the bowlers with 23 wickets to his name and ended up bowling the most overs in a series till now in this WTC cycle.
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