IND vs AUS: Rohit Sharma Reveals Trainer Stopped Him From Allowing Mohammed Siraj Bowl His Full Quota Of Overs

Mohammed Siraj, on Sunday (September 17), bowled one of the best ODI spells of all time to fire India to a stunning victory over Sri Lanka in the final of the Asia Cup 2023. The Men in Blue thrashed the Islanders by 10 wickets at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

India have now won the Asia Cup eight times, two times more than second-placed Sri Lanka who have done it six times. Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka won the toss and elected to bat first and it did not take him long to realise the mistake. India’s pacers led by Mohammed Siraj fired on all cylinders to bowl out Sri Lanka for a paltry total of 50 runs in 15.2 overs.

Jasprit Bumrah gave India the first breakthrough before Mohammed Siraj picked up 6 wickets for just 21 runs. 4 of those 6 wickets came in one over as the right-arm pacer blew Sri Lanka away. Hardik Pandya then picked up three wickets to wrap up the Sri Lankan innings.

Chasing a modest total of 51, India crossed the finishing line in only 6.1 overs. Openers Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan made sure that India do not face any hiccups during the run-chase by scoring 27 and 23 runs respectively.

Rohit Sharma on Mohammed Siraj not completing his 10 overs:

The way Mohammed Siraj was bowling, not many were expecting captain Rohit Sharma to withdraw him from the bowling attack. While Jasprit Bumrah was taken out of the attack after he bowled five overs on the trot, Mohammed Siraj went on to bowl 7 overs in a row.

But after his seventh over, Rohit Sharma decided to take him out of the attack and introduce spinner Kuldeep Yadav, much to everyone’s surprise. And after the game ended, the India skipper explained the reason behind his decision. Rohit Sharma revealed that he took the call on the advice of the trainer.

“I get a lot of satisfaction when I see fast bowlers perform like this. All the captains take a lot of pride in fast bowling (at their disposal), and I am no different. We have got a fantastic set of fast bowlers,” Rohit Sharma said at the post-match media conference.

“All of them have different skill sets and variations – one can bowl quick, one can swing the ball, one can get good bounce. When you get all of these aspects in one team, it is a feel-good factor,” he added.

Speaking about Mohammed Siraj, the India captain said: “It was very pleasing to watch from the slips (how Siraj bowled). He got the ball to move a bit more than the other two. We were riding behind him (Siraj) when he was bowling that spell.

“He bowled seven overs in that spell, and I got a message from the trainer that we have to stop him now. He was quite desperate to bowl. He bowled seven overs, which is a lot. Siraj was in a similar situation against SL in Trivandrum, and he had bowled some 8-9 overs on the trot,” he added.

India will now focus on the upcoming three-match ODI series against Australia and the all-important World Cup, scheduled to begin on October 5. India will open their campaign on October 8 against Australia in Chennai.