Watch- Mohammed Siraj takes a stunning diving catch to dismiss Zak Crawley off Ravichandran Ashwin

Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj who is known for inflicting all-outs rapidly in both white and red ball cricket, completed a very good diving effort catch to remove England opener Zak Crawley for 20 off 40 runs on Day 1’s 1st session of the 1st Test here in Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International stadium.

England after getting off to a flying start on a bouncy track, thanks to the aggressive intent from openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley, have been reduced to 3 wickets before 20 overs. Duckett was the first to depart as Ashwin scalped him for the 4th time in Test cricket while number 3 Ollie Pope departed for just 1 as Rohit Sharma caught him in the slips as he edged past a delivery from Ravindra Jadeja in 14th over’s 4th delivery.

What a catch by Mohammad Siraj.

– Incredible, Siraj…!!! pic.twitter.com/qQK698HZ0t

— CricketMAN2 (@ImTanujSingh) January 25, 2024

And just 2 balls later in the 15th over’s 1st delivery, Ashwin as at it once again. After registering his 491st scalp in the form of opener Ben Duckett, the veteran off-spinner removed his partner Crawley who was initially looking in a good touch but unfortunately got out after playing an indecisive shot which went straight to the hands of Mohammed Siraj who still had to dive forward to complete the catch.

Zak Crawley was playing all types of shots, from cover drives to leg glance and solid straight drives to the reverse sweeps. This time he was looking to push a flighted full length delivery from Ashwin towards the cover region but he ended up making a major mistake.

pic.twitter.com/RZrtmrMJL6

— Cricket Khelo (@cricketkhelo11) January 25, 2024

After going down the track and picking up the ball from where it pitched, Crawley unintentionally played a lofted shot towards Mohammed Siraj who managed to convert the half-chance into an actual wicket. The umpires did take some time to verify and ensure the legality of the catch, but after seeing Siraj firmly placing his fingers beneath the ball, Zak Crawley walked out as England’s 3rd wicket.

Mohammed Siraj And Jasprit Bumrah Remain Quite As Spinners Carrying Out A Decent Job

Mohammed Siraj who is playing in his home ground in Hyderabad, has not been favored to bowl with that much regularity alongside vice captain Jasprit Bumrah in the 1st session. And that is mainly because India’s spinning trio of Ashwin, Jadeja and Axar are carrying out a decent job in the middle.

The top 3 English batters were able to curb India’s pace battery very well but they could not understand the line-length of the spinners whatsoever. Despite that, England have done well in their first time implementing the Bazball on Indian soil.

So much so that India have conceded 100 runs by the first session first time since 2018. Duckett and Crawley had stood for a very good 55-run partnership before their dismissal. Currently Joe Root and Johnny Bairstow are doing well in handling the threat posed by India’s spinners and have ended the first session in a commanding manner.

England are 108/3 after 28 overs with Root playing at 18 off 35 and Bairstow standing strong for 32 off 44.