Mohammed Siraj's Bowling To Moeen Ali Was Exceptional In Lord's Test: Ravichandran Ashwin

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was impressed with pace bowler Mohammed Siraj’s stellar performance at Lord’s.

Siraj, who made his Test debut against Australia in 2020, bowled his career’s best spell in the second Test against England at Lord’s.

The Hyderabad bowler got a match-haul of eight wickets and duly missed to feature his name on the Lord’s honours board as he picked four wickets in both of his innings.

Siraj’s second innings spell was phenomenal as he got the breakthrough for India when Moeen Ali and Jos Buttler looked comfortably settled at the crease. Siraj got the wickets of Ali and Sam Curran on successive balls as India came back in the game.

Mohammed Siraj’s bowling to Moeen Ali was exceptional: Ravichandran Ashwin

Ashwin, in a cheeky manner, said that at one stage it looked like only Siraj and wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant were playing as Moeen was leaving all the balls.

“You got Siraj into the team telling he’s a fast bowler right? Then why is he bowling fast off-breaks? He’s running in from the slope and his cutters are like off-breaks. His bowling to Moeen Ali was exceptional,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel in a discussion with India’s fielding coach R Sridhar.

“Rishabh Pant and Siraj alone played cricket for 2 overs (because Moeen kept playing and missing),” Ashwin added.

Mohammed Siraj is using the red-ball like a newfound toy: R Sridhar

Siraj bowled Buttler a back-of-length delivery outside off which the batsman nicked behind the stumps and three balls later he knocked off James Anderson’s stump as India won by 151 runs at Lord’s. Sridhar said that Siraj is using the red-ball as his new toy where he rolls his fingers on it.

“He’s bowling scrambled seam only. He’s rolling his fingers on the ball because it’s like a newfound toy for him,” R Sridhar told Ashwin.

“What energy man! Infectious! Kept on charging in and bowled brilliantly using the slope. If left-handers found him, they had no chance,” he added.

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