Mohammed Siraj Targeted With Sly Dig Over Spat With England Star: "Not 1st Time..."
Former Indian cricket team wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik took a sly dig at Mohammed Siraj after his war of words with England's Harry Brook in the ongoing first Test match.
- Dinesh Karthik took a sly dig at Mohammed Siraj over his on-field war of words with Harry Brook
- Karthik recalled a similar incident with Phil Salt which did not work out in Siraj's favour
- "Not the first time that someone from North England has taken on Siraj. I've seen Phil Salt do it": Karthik
Former Indian cricket team wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik took a sly dig at Mohammed Siraj after his war of words with England's Harry Brook in the ongoing first Test match. Siraj had an on-field spat with Brook but the England batter was not rattled as he continued to play his shots freely. Karthik pointed out that this was not the first time that an England batter was able to get into Siraj's head. He recalled Siraj's spat with Phil Salt during an Indian Premier League (IPL) clash that ended with Salt slamming 87 runs off 45 deliveries. "It's not the first time that someone from North England has taken on Siraj. I've seen Phil Salt do it as well," Karthik said during a discussion on Sky Sports Cricket.
Meanwhile, former India captain Sourav Ganguly is hoping that fellow pacers will contribute more in the ongoing Test series against England and release pressure from pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah so that he can be available for all five matches of the tour.
Bumrah was India's standout bowler and helped the side to bundle out hosts for 465 in their first innings on Day 3. He returned with the figures of 5-83 in 24.4 overs. Despite being injury-prone and also managing his workload on the tour, he bowled the second-most overs for India, Mohammed Siraj bowled the most - 27 overs - for the visiting side.
Former BCCI president lauded Bumrah's adaptability to contribute in all formats of the game for the country. However, the legendary left-handed batter pointed out a lack of support from fellow pacers including Shardul Thakur, Prasidh Krishna and Siraj.
Krishna bagged three wickets while Siraj got hold of two scalps but both of them leaked more than hundred runs which reduced India's first-innings lead to just six runs.
Ganguly believes Bumrah's presence in India's playing XI will keep them alive in the five-Test crucial series on challenging English conditions.
"Such a pleasure to watch Bumrah bowl in all formats of the game .. hope fully he will get support from the other end so that he can play 5 tests .. it will keep India in the series .. @bcci @Jaspritbumrah93," Ganguly wrote on X.
(With ANI inputs)
Dinesh Karthik
India Cricket Team
England Cricket Team