Ahmedabad: Perfect execution brings with it an inherent satisfaction which India speedster Mohammed Siraj felt after dismissing England captain Joe Root on the opening day of the fourth and final Test here Thursday. Root was trapped before the wicket by Siraj, who bowled a beautiful inswinger that would have hit the middle and leg stump.
“I wanted to set Root up bowling away going deliveries. And then I thought during the start of a new over, I should bring one back in. I could execute it as I had planned and it gave me great satisfaction. Mazaa aa gaya (It was fun),” Siraj said about the dismissal.
Similarly, he had done his homework on Jonny Bairstow’s apparent weakness against in-coming deliveries. The in-cutter that got Bairstow was bowled at more than 146kmph.
“Bairstow, I wasn’t bowling him at a lot of pace at the start. But whatever footages I have seen of him, he gets out to in-swinging deliveries. So I wanted to bowl in one area and bring it back consistently and it worked,” informed Siraj.
Siraj said that both skipper Virat Kohli and senior pacer Ishant Sharma had told him about the importance of bowling in the right areas. “They told me not to try too much and hit one area consistently. That is the way to create pressure… and then wickets will come automatically,” Siraj informed.
The Hyderabadi bowler was also asked about the heated exchange Kohli and Ben Stokes had also on the field. “Well Stokes was giving me gali (abusive language). I told Virat bhai and he took up the matter with Stokes,” Siraj informed.
As far as the pitch is concerned, what Siraj said would certainly not be music to England batsmen’s ears. “This is a fantastic batting wicket,” Siraj said.