India pacer Mohammed Siraj expressed immense satisfaction at getting the wicket of England captain Joe Root. Talking about how he planned the wicket, Siraj revealed the way he set Root up for his dismissal on the first day of the fourth Test match between India and England in Ahmedabad.
England had the first use of the new Ahmedabad, as Joe Root won the toss and chose to bat first. However, Axar Patel continued from where he left off in the third Test match and removed both the openers for single-digit scores. It was then upto Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root to rebuild the innings.
Mohammed Siraj dismisses Jonny Bairstow. (Credits: Twitter)
However, this was not to be as Mohammed Siraj first got rid of Joe Root for 8 and then Jonny Bairstow also fell to the Hyderabad pacer for 28. After that, it was all upto spinners, who picked eight wickets in the innings.
Mazaa Aa Gaya, Setting Up And Getting Joe Root’s Wicket Was Fun: Mohammed Siraj
Talking about the Joe Root wicket at the end of the day’s play, Mohammed Siraj admitted that he had planned the England captain’s dismissal with care. He was happy that he executed the planning to the tee and it came off as he had thought.
“I wanted to set Root up bowling away going deliveries. And then I thought during the start of a new over, I should bring one back in. I could execute it as I had planned and it gave me great satisfaction. Mazaa aa gaya (It was fun),” Siraj said about the dismissal.
It was upto Root and Bairstow to rebuild the innings after Axar Patel’s double blows. But he didn’t let that happen, as Siraj removed both the batsmen in quick succession.
“Bairstow, I wasn’t bowling him at a lot of pace at the start. …but whatever footages I have seen of him, he gets out to in-swinging deliveries. So I wanted to bowl in one area and bring it back consistently and it worked,” he said.
He also praised the guidance of Indian captain Virat Kohli, planning to have Siraj hit one area consistently in order to create pressure. England was bundled for 205 runs with Axar picking four wickets, Ravichandran Ashwin taking three, and Washington Sundar scalping one wicket.
