Last Update on: July 24th, 2023 at 03:03 pm
Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj stated that veteran off-spinner Ravichandran would help the team win the second and final Test match against the West Indies. Mohammed Siraj believes that Ravichandran Ashwin will pose trouble for the West Indies batter on the final day of the match.
The Rohit Sharma-led team declared their second innings for 181 runs, setting up a 365-run target for the West Indies team to level the series. The Kraigg Brathwaite-led team lost two wickets for 76 runs in their second innings, with Ravichandran Ashwin taking both wickets on Sunday.
The Ball Is Turning – Mohammed Siraj
Speaking at the end of the day’s play, Mohammed Siraj highlighted that the surface is offering a turn for the spinners.
“The way the wicket is behaving, Ashwin, I feel, will run through the West Indies batting… the ball is turning,” Siraj said.
The 36-year-old dismissed dangerous West Indies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite for 28 runs and also took the wicket of debutant Kirk McKenzie, leaving the hosts in a bit of trouble.
Ishan Is An Aggressive Batter – Mohammed Siraj
The 29-year-old revealed that the team decided to bat aggressively in the second innings to put up a big total for the opposition, giving enough time for their bowlers to pick up 10 wickets.
“Yes, Ishan is an aggressive batter. Rishabh Pant is not there, so as a wicketkeeper, he (Ishan) is able to fill in for Pant’s loss to a certain extent, if not completely. He has the ability to hit the ball long and hard. He has the ability to hit all around the ground.”
“We had enough runs on the board (first innings lead), so our plan was to score as many (runs in the second innings) in a short period and then (after declaration), we would be able to get more overs to bowl out the West Indies.”
Ishan Kishan made his debut in the first Test of the series, but managed to score only one run in the match. The left-handed batter was promoted to bat up the order to play his natural game, and he lived up to expectations by scoring an unbeaten 52 runs off just 34 balls.