Mohammed Siraj, the tireless warrior, would run in to bowl the first ball of his 186th over of this series like the wind. His strides had the enthusiasm and energy of a child running to the playground after the school bell. England were a hit away to win the series 3-1, a six was all they needed. The last fully-fit batsman standing, Gus Atkinson, swung his bat alright, but Mohammed Siraj’s match-changing deadly yorker would blow the off-stump — and also England’s hopes.
In India’s cricket folklore, Mohammed Siraj’s yorker could rank with MS Dhoni’s six that won India the 2011 World Cup. His strike had given a logical end to the series. India’s 6-run win ended the contest 2-2 — nothing could have been more apt for this epic see-saw battle of fine margins where neither team gave up. There was sweat, blood and broken bones, but no sign of the will backing down.
India had begun their lap of honour around The Oval without their man of the moment. Three-fourths of the ground had stood to applaud a famous win. But Mohammed Siraj was still finishing up with his interviews, beaming his smile through questions, when all he wanted was to be among his people.
When he finally broke free, he sprinted across the turf to catch up. And the first person he sought out wasn’t the captain, or the coach, or the cameras. It was Prasidh Krishna. They say fast bowlers often move in pairs. Siraj didn’t just join him. He leapt into his arms. It was a spontaneous, joyous hug at the end of a historic Test win. But what made it even more poignant was where it happened, that very part of the ground near the Vauxhall End where the two had shared a quieter, more private embrace just a day earlier.
Lunch had just been called on Day 4. And Siraj, instead of turning toward the dressing room, began walking in the other direction where Prasidh had been fielding. He could’ve waited for Prasidh to join him. When he got there, he put an arm around his partner and then patted his head. It was an apology. For the mis-step that had cost India Harry Brook’s wicket. And possibly the match. Possibly the series.
That was the story of the Anderson-Tendular Trophy, encapsulated in two Siraj vignettes. Because if this series that finished 2-2 was a roller-coaster, then Mohammed Siraj was the guy in the front seat: wind in his face, hands off the rail, riding every twist, turn, plunge and peak. Even on Day 25, after 181 overs, he wasn’t done with the ride.
Mohammed Siraj’s incredible “I Believe ” story
On the morning of the fifth day, when England needed just 35 runs to win the series with four wickets to go, Mohammed Siraj woke up at 6 am, googled Cristiano Ronaldo image with ‘Believe’ written on it, downloaded it and pasted it on his phone’s screen. He would take the message to the ground, to take three of those wickets to finish with figures of 5/104 and win the Man of the Match award.
Others in Shubman Gill’s new Team India have been carrying the same belief on the field, but what they have googling isn’t yet known. The 25-year-old captain entrusted with the job of ensuring a seamless transition after the retirement of larger-than-life stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli shared a bit of that secret. At the Post Match confrence, with a beaming smile full of Joy, Mohammed Siraj poured all his feelings while sharing his story and the thought behind it.
Mohammed Siraj opens up on his match defining spell & moment
At the end of his lionhearted bowling efforts that earned India an unforgettable series-levelling win on the dramatic final morning of the fifth Test at the Oval, Mohammed Siraj attended the post-match press conference wearing a million-dollar smile. Mohammed Siraj had all the reasons to be ecstatic after his scorching delivery castled Gus Atkinson to end the English lower-order batter’s heroic resistance and earn India one of the greatest victories in their Test cricket history.
With nine wickets in the match, including five in the second innings that helped India defend the target of 374 by the narrowest of margins, Mohammed Siraj not only came out of Jasprit Bumrah’s shadows, but he also galloped into the realm of India’s biggest match-winning heroes.
“From Day One till here, everyone fought hard, and then this result, we are very, very happy. The plan is simple, to keep it consistently in the right areas and everything would take care of itself. I woke up, took a screenshot out of Google, saying ‘Believe’, and stuck to it, I put a believe wallpaper on my phone. That dropped catch was a critical moment, had I taken that catch, it would be done much earlier,” Mohammed Siraj said during the post-match presentation.
It’s hard to believe that the man who kept the Indian dream alive in the gruelling five-Test series against England once struggled to get a game even in club cricket.
Mohammed Siraj says he never lost faith in his own ability to deliver a sensational victory for India in the fifth and deciding Test at The Oval on Monday. England, set 374 to win, lost a nail-biting encounter by just six runs, with Siraj returning innings figures of 5-104 as India ended a rollercoaster campaign level at 2-2.
The hosts resumed on Monday’s final day on 339-6, needing just 35 more runs for a win that would have given them a 3-1 series success.But they had no answer to the enduring skill of fast bowler Mohammed Siraj, who featured in all five games.He undid England on Monday with a brilliant burst of 3-9 in 25 balls, ending the match in style when he knocked over Gus Atkinson’s off-stump.
It was just over a decade ago that Mohammed Siraj was playing for corporate teams in Hyderabad for a mere 200 rupees per match. His father, Mohammed Ghouse, could not even afford to buy ‘proper shoes’ for his matches.But it was his mother, Shabana Begum, who never gave up on her son’s cricket dreams. She pleaded with Abdul Azeem, a former Indian first-class cricketer, to give her son a chance to prove his talent at the state level.
It was Azeem who eventually helped Siraj get into a club team before giving him an opportunity to impress the Hyderabad under-23 team selectors in a trial match. Now with 23 wickets in the England series after bowling some relentless spells of fast bowling, Mohammed Siraj not only won a billion hearts in India, but also earned an admirer in Joe Root.
There was a beautiful symmetry in that number – 1122 – just like the final scoreline of this series: 2-2. A perfect reflection of Mohammed Siraj’s own arc over these six weeks. Because to understand the significance of how it ended, you had to see where it began.
In many ways, this has always been the story of Mohammed Siraj’s Test career. He made his debut at the MCG in the aftermath of 36 all out, when India were bruised, understrength, and away from home. He asked Ajinkya Rahane why he hadn’t bowled in the first session of that match. It wasn’t petulance. It was hunger.
Three weeks later, at the Gabba, he was leading an attack featuring Navdeep Saini and T. Natarajan in just his third Test. And he took a five-fer to script one of India’s greatest ever wins, at a ground where no visiting team had triumphed in 32 years. Since that debut, he has taken 51 wickets at an average of 18.92 in nine Test wins in SENA. He has made himself available – in body, in spirit, in fight, and in skill.
Last year, after India won the T20 World Cup, he’d said with endearing honesty: “I’m believe only on Jassi bhai.” That belief was real. But somewhere along the way, across 1122 balls, five Tests, and every twist in this ride, there was a subtle tweak. Now, he says he believes in himself.
More importantly, India know too that when things get tough, they can count on Mohammed Siraj. The kind of bowler who’ll stay on the ride. The kind who puts heart before hesitation. The kind who runs in, no matter what – wind in his face, hands off the rail.
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