After thrashing Sri Lanka by a record margin of 317 runs in the third ODI, India captain Rohit Sharma lavished praises on Mohammed Siraj, calling him ‘a rare talent’.
Siraj emerged as the pick of the bowlers for the home team in Thiruvananthapuram. He returned with impressive bowling figures of 4/32 in his quota of ten overs. He created fear in the minds of Sri Lankan batters with his inswingers and ferocious bouncers. Rohit hailed Siraj for his efforts and revealed that the right-arm pacer is still improving as a bowler, which is good for the team.
“It was a great series for us. Lots of positives. We bowled well, got wickets when we needed and the batters throughout the series piling on the runs was good to watch. Good to see how he (Siraj) was bowling and he deserved all those slips. He is a rare talent, the way he has come up over the last few years is good to see. He has come from strength to strength and that’s really good for Indian cricket. We tried all sort of things (to get his fifer) but it didn’t happen unfortunately,” Rohit said after the final game of the three-match series.
Triggering a top-order collapse, Siraj picked up the wickets of Avishka Fernando, Nuwanidu Fernando and Kusal Mendis in his opening spell before returning to dismiss Wanindu Hasaranga.
Siraj-starrer India bowled out Sri Lanka for a mere 73 in 22 overs.
“But the four wickets are all his and fifers will come. He has a few tricks up his sleeves which he is working on and it’s there to see. We’ll get to the drawing board quickly (for the next series) and see how the pitch is, then decide how the combinations will be,” Rohit added.
India will next face New Zealand in three ODIs and as many T20Is from January 18 onwards. The Black Caps are coming off after a series win in the 50-overs format against Babar Azam’s men in Pakistan.
