A bowler of Mohammed Siraj's calibre and skill-set is every captain’s dream, said Indian captain Shubman Gill, terming the 2-2 score line as a “fair reflection” of the quality of cricket that was on display in the five-Test series against England. Gill, who was India’s “Player of The Series” with 754 runs and four hundreds, was all praise for Siraj, whose lion-hearted effort got him nine wickets in a series levelling performance at the Oval.
“Siraj is a captain's dream. Gave it his all every ball and every spell he bowled… 2-2 is a fair reflection. It shows how passionate both teams were and how well they played,” Gill told Michael Atherton at the post-match presentation ceremony. "When you have bowlers like Siraj and Prasidh, captaincy looks easy. I think the way we responded today was magnificent. We were confident, even yesterday, we knew they were under pressure,” Gill said.
About his coming of age as a batsman in the just-concluded series, Gill said it was satisfying. "We wanted to make sure it stayed throughout. Very rewarding, my aim was to be the best batsman in this series and getting there is very satisfying. It's always a matter of sorting things out technically and mentally, they are correlated." Asked about his learning from the six weeks, he said, "We never give up.”
He had a phenomenal series: Brook
England batsman Harry Brook was expecting an easy win for his side on the final morning of the fifth Test on Monday, but he admitted that India pacer Mohammed Siraj's brave spell dashed the hosts’ hopes. “I thought we'll easily take it home in the morning, but the way Siraj bowled, he deserved the success today. Siraj has had a phenomenal series and a finish," said Brook after being chosen by India head coach Gautam Gambhir as England’s Player of the Series.
Brook said the ball moved around under grey skies at the Oval. “I thought the pitch would be flatter after the roller. But the ball zipped around under the cloud,” he said.
Googled and got ‘believe’ emoji, says Star of the Day
The word impossible is not a part of Mohammed Siraj's dictionary as he always believed that he can win the final Test for India from any point of time. “I woke up in the morning and checked Google on my phone and took out a 'Believe' emoji wallpaper and told myself that I will do it for the country,” he said.
Without Jasprit Bumrah, Siraj bowled 185.3 overs with 23 wickets and it couldn’t have been more fitting that he earned India a win for posterity. “I always believe that I can win the game from any point, and did it in the morning," Siraj told Dinesh Karthik in a post-match chat.
"My only plan was to bowl in good areas. Didn't matter if I took wickets or went for runs," Siraj said. His feet touched the boundary rope while trying to catch Harry Brook when he was on 19 and Brook scored a smashing century when it looked like the match was slipping from India's grasp. “I didn't think I'd touch the cushion when I took it. It was a match-changing moment. Brook got into T20 moment. We were behind the game after that, but thank God. I thought the match was gone," said Siraj.
Follow us
