After facing a heartbreaking defeat in the first Test against South Africa, Team India bounced back in the second one. On January 3rd, India met South Africa for the second Test in Cape Town. Since day 1, India dominated the opponent. On the first day, Mohammad Siraj registered an amazing spell of 6/15. That performance of Siraj earns praise from former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar.
Siraj’s Amazing Spell:
India lost the first Test match against South Africa by an innings and 32 runs. In the second Test match, Team India started dominating the opponent. South Africa batted first in the Test match. Mohammed Siraj bowled one of the best spells in this career. He took 6 wickets in 15 runs. His first wicket was Aiden Markram. In that innings, he picked up Dean Elgar, Tony de Zorzi, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne, and Marco Jansen. In front of his venomous spell, the South African batter could not stand tall.
Sanjay Manjekar’s Words:
This amazing spell of Mohammed Siraj earns praise from cricket greats across the globe. Former players and cricket experts showered praises all the way. Sanjay Manjrekar is one of them. After that amazing spell, he compared Siraj with former cricket greats. He said, “I am just trying to find what are the parallels – the similarities between a Broad and a Mohammed Siraj; Anil Kumble as well in that regard. It’s just the spirit of these guys. Broad is a great trier, Mohammed Siraj – his tail is up when he has got six wickets. But his tail is up when he hasn’t got a wicket in 20 overs.”
Later he added, “You just watch the footage and you wouldn’t be able to tell whether he had a bad day or a good day. Same with Anil Kumble. So that is the first thing that’s very important – temperament. Plus, when you have an action that is repeatable – just come in there over after others. He was exactly the same in the first over and even in the 10th over.”
Mohammed Siraj corrected those errors he made in the first Test. In that match, he conceded too many runs. He solved those mistakes and brought his best. He said, “ Think he was brilliant. Mohammed Siraj learned the fact of South Africa that you don’t have to swing the ball to get wickets. Use the pitch more. I think he and Mukesh Kumar did a perfect job. Bumrah is still getting there and so is Prasidh Krishna.”
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