Ind vs Eng 4th Test: Day 1 of the 4th Test between India and England ended with the hosts in command at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad. While the Indian spinners stole the show again, scalping eight wickets out of possible 10, young pacer Mohammed Siraj’s contribution could not be overlooked. The Hyderabad lad, played his role well, keeping the pressure up on England batsmen as spinners rattled the visitors from the other end.
Siraj, bowling only 14 overs on a surface that assisted spinners, returned with two crucial wickets of skipper Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow for 45 runs. While two wickets may not seem a great stat for a bowler, it was the execution that mattered.
With Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin taking full advance of the turning track, Siraj was given a special task by India skipper Virat Kohli. He was asked to use the pitch’s extra bounce to put the pressure on the touring batsmen. Without overdoing things, he maintained his line and length and was eventually rewarded with Root’s wicket, whose dismissal was the perfect example of planning and execution.
“He (Virat Kohli) told me to maintain the line and length and keep bowling at the same place to build the pressure on. If you keep building the pressure, you will automatically get wickets. That is how it turned out to be,” Siraj said after the match.