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Siraj woke up at 6 AM on Day 5, downloaded Ronaldo's photo and put it as his phone wallpaper: 'Felt very guilty after…'
After the disappointment of dropping a catch, Mohammed Siraj bounced back with grit, bowling his heart out to complete a fiery five-wicket haul.
Mohammed Siraj produced a spell for ages at the Oval with a five-wicket haul, which helped India register a sensational 6-run win and level the series 2-2. Siraj was right on the money on Day 5 when India was four wickets away from winning as he claimed three off them and rattled England's lower-batting order. However, it wasn't all hunky dory for Siraj in this match as on Day 4, he dropped the crucial catch of Harry Brook when he was batting on 19. Siraj stumbled to the boundary ropes after taking his catch off Prasidh Krishna. The English batter took advantage of the lifeline and counter-attacked the Indian pacers to score his century.
After the disappointment of dropping a catch, the Indian pacer bounced back with grit, bowling his heart out to complete a fiery five-wicket haul.
He talked about the catch-drop incident after guiding India to a famous win.
"Jab mere saath haadsa hua, I thought the match had gone and slipped away. If he had got yesterday, the match would have looked completely different. I thought about it as it was a game-changing moment, but the way we fought back was commendable. When I woke up this morning, I said to myself, I will change the game and googled an emoji of 'believe' and put it on my wallpaper (it was a Cristiano Ronaldo photo as he later revealed in the press conference)," Siraj told Cheteshwar Pujara after the match.
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“Plan was to consistently hit…”: Siraj
Siraj set the tone early on Day 5, removing Jamie Smith in his very first over to put England under pressure. He followed it up by dismissing Jamie Overton, dealing a further blow to their hopes, and later outfoxed Gus Atkinson to wrap up the match and seal a memorable win for India.
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The 31-year-old also opened up about his plan and said he was quite clear that he would not try anything different but be consistent with his line and length, which paid off well for him and India.
“The plan was to consistently hit the line and length outside off-stump. I told myself not to try too much. If I had tried something different, the pressure on the opposition might have eased. So I focused on maintaining that consistent line and length,” he added.
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Siraj finished the series as the highest-wicket taker with 23 wickets in his kitty. He was proud of the way the Indian team fought hard in every match of the series, which went to Day 5.
“Hats off to everyone in the squad for the way we played throughout the series from Day 1. Every match went down to the final day, and the way we fought — it was just fun to be a part of,” he concluded.
